Stupid Face
by Sakurazukamori6
Summary: Watanuki decides to take a different approach to dealing with his mortal nemesis. Doumeki/Watanuki
1. Stupid Face

"Ah! he makes me so mad I just want to—" Watanuki slammed down the skillet onto the stove-top, and then stomped off in search of oil. He flung the bottom cupboard doors open, and then slammed it shut when he found what he was looking for. "Make Ohagi, he says. Who cares if it's out of season, he says." Watanuki uncapped the bottle and splashed oil into the pan, then used his other hand to throw in ginger and red-pepper. He tapped his foot in irritation as he watched the mixture sizzle. "You have a whole night, he says. That should be no problem for you, he says." Watanuki tossed strips of floured chicken, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms into the pan, then picked up the skillet by the handle and shook it over the flame. "Wait for me after school so we can walk home together, he says. I have a tournament coming up, he says." Watanuki tossed the ingredients a little ways up and easily caught them, then shuffled them in the skillet while his fist clenched the handle with a death-grip. "Don't forget the Ohagi, he says!"

"Oh, you're going to make Ohagi too," Yuko said from the entrance to the kitchen. She clapped her hands at him like he was some kind of baby. "You're such a hard-worker. Your employer is very pleased."

"Ohagi!" Mokona bounced up and down on Yuko's shoulder. "I love Ohagi."

"Well you're not getting any!" Watanuki shouted back, brandishing his skillet like a weapon. "No one is getting any Ohagi. Not you, not Yuko-san, certainly not Doumeki! We're just having stir-fry today."

"But what about the Ohagi?" Yuko cried. "You're such a tease, Watanuki."

"Such a tease," Maru chirped. "Yeah, such a tease," Moro repeated.

"No one's a tease here!" Watanuki screamed, and they frolicked off as he brandished the skillet at them too. "I have school tomorrow, not to mention I'm not going to give that lunkhead everything he asks for. It's just going to make his manners worst. He's spoiled as it is."

"So by denying Doumeki access to your delicious Ohagi, you are attempting to punish him." Yuko leaned against the door frame with a mysterious smile on her face.

"What do you mean 'attempting'?" Watanuki bristled. "It's punishment. He gets what he deserves, always ordering me around like I'm his personal chef, with that smug face of his no less. Just once I'd like to see him grateful." Watanuki slammed the skillet back onto the stove and turned the burner off. "Oh hell, just once I'd like to see him wearing something other than that smug look. Anything. What I'd pay to see him—"

"You shouldn't make such statements in my store, unless you want them to come true," Yuko said darkly. She was wearing a black and red kimono with crimson butterflies patterning the front, and when she sauntered over to him, it appeared as if the butterflies were moving as well. Watanuki could hear the rustle of the silk as her long sleeves dragged on the floor. She looked deeply into his eyes. "Is that what you wish for?"

Watanuki waved off his employer. "Oh come on, I'm just kidding. I wasn't actually serious. Plus the price would be too much—to just wish and have Doumeki wearing any expression I choose--that has to be up there. And no matter how much of an ass Douemki is to me, he doesn't deserve someone having that kind of power over his soul. I would never."

"You'd be surprised how easy your wish can be granted," Yuko said.

Watanuki stared at her carefully. "How easy?" Not that he wanted to have that kind of power over Doumeki, he assured himself.

"As easy as—making Ohagi!" Yuko threw her hands up in the air at the end of her cheer, the dark undercurrents in her voice vanishing so quickly that Watanuki had to wonder if his employer was somewhat bi-polar.

"You just want Ohagi," Watanuki sighed. He was going to stop talking to Yuko-san if she did this to him everytime he tried to have a serious conversation with her.

"I do, but it's the first step in granting your wish. Having power over someone's soul does not always mean that it was gained by nefarious means. Doumeki asked you to do something that was difficult, after-all."

"Yes and that's exactly the problem," Watanuki said.

"I see it as more of the solution," Yuko challenged. "He knows you are capable, so he asks for something difficult knowing that you can do it. He trusts that you will be able to do it."

"You're reading way too much into this," Watanuki said, feelings his ears heat up.

"Possibly," Yuko said. "But I shall give you advice on how to change Doumeki's expression anyway, and in exchange you will give me half of the Ohagi that you make for Doumeki."

"And like I said before, you just want the Ohagi," Watanuki said suspiciously.

"Here goes my advice," Yuko said without even trying to appease his suspicions. "Make an amount of Ohagi that will be satisfactory for Doumeki, bring it to him tomorrow after his archery practice, eat it with him, ask him about his day, and then you shall see just how complicated Doumeki Shizuka is."

Watanuki blinked at her. "Wait a minute, are you asking me to be… _nice _to Doumeki?" Watanuki said it like the words stung him. Actually stung him.

"Yes, I am asking you to be very nice to him. So nice, in fact, that he will not know what to do with you. I will simply leave you with that." Yuko turned to leave, but before she exited the kitchen she threw behind her, "I happily await my Ohagi."

* * *

The next day came faster than Watanuki wanted it to. He had deliberated the advice that Yuko had given him, and while he was suspicious of it--terribly suspicious, especially when she had practically swooped down on him when he had been doling out her portion of the highly coveted Ohagi—he was starting to see the logic behind her words. He thought of it like this: if Doumeki, his most abhorred enemy, had come up to him one day and began to act nice, it would certainly freak him out. It would more than freak him out. He would probably run shrieking from the scene and leave Doumeki behind in fear that the world was coming to an end and the spot where Doumeki was standing would be the first place to be destroyed. It would certainly be unsettling to have Doumeki nice to him. As much as he thought he deserved some civility, for it to come from Doumeki would be weird.

So seeing his scenario more than reversible, Watanuki walked over to the other side of school the next day, a multi-tiered lunch box under his arm, and a polite greeting for all the members of the archery club who were sticking around by the dojo. Practice had just let out, but none of them seemed to be in hurry to go home. Doumeki hadn't even put away his gear when he had walked into the hall, and was still shooting arrows at the target with a steely gaze in his eyes.

Watanuki looked around for the captain, but when he saw he was nowhere to be found (probably helping someone put away gear), he took a seat against the wall and waited for Doumeki to notice him. It didn't take long. _His animal senses had probably picked up on the food_, Watanuki thought, as he unwrapped the green cloth around the box and folded it neatly. "Can we eat here?" Watanuki asked as Doumeki came towards him like a zombie and single-mindedly reached for the Ohagi, cramming two in his mouth and answering his question for him.

"Did you bring tea?"

Watanuki suppressed the urge to yell and brought the thermos forward to pour him a cup. There was a strange silence between them, and Watanuki felt Doumeki staring at him rather intensely as he sat back to enjoy his tea. _So he noticed I'm acting differently_, Watanuki thought with an inner smirk. Well, it was about to get a whole lot worse… for who exactly, though, Watanuki was still unsure. He would have to make an ass of himself in front of Doumeki and the archery team, but it didn't matter since it was only Doumeki and Watanuki was used to people talking about him in school. What would have bothered him was if he'd had to make an ass out of himself in front of Himawari-chan. He was grateful that she was not here to see this. But then again, he was torn up about her not being able to see all the stupid faces that he was going to wring out of Doumeki too. It was a shame, really.

Squaring his shoulders and taking a deep breath, Watanuki prepared himself for a journey into unknown territory, for he, Watanuki Kimihiro, was about to be supremely nice to his mortal nemesis, Doumeki Shizuka. It was going to take a lot of facial control and biting his tongue, two things that he was not used to doing in Doumeki's presence. He hoped he didn't bite his tongue off in the process because he wanted to be able to laugh about this later. Hopefully things would go as planned, or else he would have to commit suicide on the nice wooden floors of the Archery Hall.

"So…" he cleared his throat and began fiddling with his sleeves, "how was your day?"

Doumeki stopped cramming food into his mouth and stared at him. There wasn't an immediate response, but the archer eventually came around to it, mumbling something in between chewing that sounded like "it was okay."

Watanuki had to overcome the strong urge to hit him over the head with the lunch-box. He didn't appreciate people speaking to him with a bunch of food in their mouth. "Is that so?" he fake-laughed and reached for the safety of the thermos, as it would give his hands something to do, something that didn't involve picking up the lunch-box and bashing Doumeki over the head with it. He leaned over and poured Doumeki more tea. "I can see that you're practicing really hard."

There was another one of those long pauses on Doumeki's end. He was also avoiding eye contact. "Tournament's coming up," he said simply and shoved another Ohagi into his mouth, like he couldn't think of anything to say and shoving food into his trap would serve as a good excuse to keep quiet.

Well, that was new: a Doumeki that didn't know what to say. Watanuki thought he liked this change very much.

"So when is the tournament?" Watanuki asked.

"Friday." Doumeki crammed another rice-cake into his mouth and then followed it up with some tea.

"Friday, huh?" Watanuki wasn't feeling as self-conscious as he thought he would. It was surprisingly easy to carry on small talk with his mortal nemesis when he had the upper-hand. "I have work after-school, but I'm sure Yuko-san wouldn't mind if I was a bit late." He paused to add the needed effect to his next sentence. "So… do you mind if I come to cheer you on?"

"Pfftt!" That was the sound of Doumeki Shizuka spitting out of his tea and it was also the sound of Watanuki congratulating himself for a job well done. He had kept it together. He'd seriously had the urge to shout something about going to hell and back before he would ever grace Doumeki with his presence at one of his stupid tournaments, but he had kept it together. Yuko-san would be proud.

"Oh, Doumeki, are you okay?" Watanuki was starting to realize that he had a serious talent for acting. Maybe when he was finished with paying off Yuko-san, he could join the drama-club at their school. Plenty of people did tell him he had a knack for Drama…or was it over-dramatization? Casually taking out the hand-kerchief in his pocket, Watanuki dabbed at the wet spots on Doumeki's archery uniform.

Doumeki grabbed his wrist in a surprisingly strong grip, stopping him. "It's okay," he said and then let go of his hand quickly. "It'll come out eventually." Watanuki could feel the other archery members staring at them, even heard giggling in the background. Hmph, ten more points for embarrassing Doumeki in front of a crowd, especially a crowd that usually witnessed him at his best.

"That might leave a stain on your keiko-gi if you don't use some baking soda."

"Okay," Doumeki said awkwardly, and Watanuki could have died and gone to heaven with just that alone.

"If you can't get it out in time, don't hesitate to bring it to me. I could probably get the stain out for you."

"Are you sick?" Doumeki suddenly asked. He was staring at him intensely. "Did a ghost possess you?"

"What?" Watanuki laughed. "No, I'm perfectly fine. Why would you think that?" He smiled at Doumeki and made the other boy glance away. "Plus there's no way any ghosts would possess me now, not with _you_ here." He scooted closer to Doumeki, who stared at him like he had lost his marbles. Doumeki appeared to be seriously freaked out by his change in personality. He was wearing a conflicted look on his face, like he couldn't make up his mind on whether he should run or stay. This was too much. It seemed that the usual openness and affection he showered on Himawari-chan had the opposite effect on Doumeki. Watanuki could feel the laughter bubbling up inside of him—it was too much. He ducked his head in an attempt to control himself.

"I feel perfectly safe with you." Watanuki scooted closer to Doumeki's side, then peered directly up into his stupid-Doumeki face. "Don't you like being with me?"

**Thud.**

Watanuki blinked at the sudden absence of a Doumeki-shaped body taking up his vision. He looked down and found it lying back on the wooden floor of the Archery Hall, eyes peacefully closed.

_Huh?_

"Captain, captain!" someone shouted from behind Watanuki. Watanuki turned around in time to see the archery members crowding around him, some of them wearing expressions of shock and concern, others wearing, oddly enough, expressions of concern mixed with amusement. He could still hear snickering.

"What happened?" The captain ran into the hall like his hair was on fire.

"Doumeki fainted," somebody provided. Watanuki heard more of that inappropriate snickering and turned to give the guilty members a terse, unamused look. What the hell were they laughing at?

"He what?" the captain asked. "Why'd he faint?"

"Ask the guy he was with." Watanuki heard more snickering, but didn't bother with them anymore. Instead he turned to the captain with an apologetic look.

"Sorry, I think it maybe had something to do with the food I prepared him." He bowed his head in apology. "I'm truly sorry, especially with a tournament this close."

The captain gave him a baffled look. "I didn't think Doumeki-kun was allergic to anything, not with the way he inhales his lunch everyday..." He scratched his head. "Well, I'll go and get the nurse to check up on him. Meanwhile, you guys stop crowding around and go home. Can you stay with him um…"

"Watanuki," somebody provided. Watanuki had never remembered introducing himself to any of these boys before.

"Yes, of course," Watanuki said. He watched as the captain sped off in the direction of the nurse's office and the stranglers dispersed, the last of their snickering going with them. Sighing deeply, Watanuki reached for Doumeki and pressed a hand to his forehead. _Well, he didn't have a fever, so that was good._ He scooted forward and, putting a hand under Doumeki's neck, gently lifted his head and rested it in his lap. He hadn't meant to freak Doumeki out this much. Watanuki sighed again at his failed attempt at revenge. He should have just yelled and smashed the bento box over Doumeki's head instead of causing the archer to smash his own head on the floor. At least he wouldn't have felt so bad. He was never going to listen to Yuko-san again.

"Mm."

Watanuki looked down to find Doumeki 's eyes slowly opening.

"Are you okay?" he asked with real concern this time.

Doumeki looked up at him. He seemed to be slowly recognizing his surroundings and that his head was currently resting in somebody's lap. "Watanuki?"

"You just fainted. Does your head hurt?"

He didn't say anything and continued to stare up at him.

Watanuki was worried now. "Hey, answer me. Does your head hurt?" He placed his hand over Doumeki's forehead.

Then Doumeki did something strange and placed his own hand over Watanuki's. Watanuki stared at the hand with a suddenly sinking feeling in his gut.

"Are we going out now?"

"What now?" Watanuki asked, while that sinking feeling expanded to other regions of his body.

Then Doumeki pointed out as calmly as if he had said the sky was blue: "You said you liked being with me."

Watanuki continued to stare at the hand. He was starting to realize, while dread and horror filled in the sinkholes in his stomach, that his plotting against Doumeki had backfired, and instead of him wringing out stupid looks on Doumeki's face, he was currently staring at the hand on top of his with the stupidest look of all.

* * *

"_ohagi_ marks the end of something and celebrates the new that is about to arrive. It is white and red, the colors that symbolize an auspicious occasion. They symbolize a short temporal pause, where people stop and reflect, feeling gratitude for what is ending and hoping for the future." I found this definition for Ohagi on this website_ "Ohagi: _glimpses of a not-so-old Japan" and I thought it would be nice to share it with everyone.

**"How to cook OHAGI"** taken from Scocasso website  
1. Wash mochi rice and soak it in water for a day.  
2. Drain  
3. Put mochi rice in the _suribachi_ (mortar) and mash with a _kijakushi_(wooden spatula).  
4. Lay a wet steam-cloth on a _musiki_ (steamer) and put the mashed mochi  
rice in/on it and steam on high heat for 45 minutes.  
5. To prevent it from sticking to your hands, put a tablespoonful of salt in two and a half cups of hot water. Boil and cool it.  
6. Wrap steamed mochi in a wet cloth and knead it.  
Put a napkin and put it in a _musiki_ again.  
7. Knead it until it becomes soft again.  
8. Make small ball of mochi rice and bigger one of sweet-bean-paste.  
Make the bean-paste one flat and round. Wrap the "an" (bean paste) around the mochi rice.


	2. The Aftermath

A/n: How Watanuki deals with the repercussions of his actions.

* * *

Watanuki was currently running. Running very fast. Anyone who knew Watanuki's unique situation, upon witnessing his running, would have immediately come to the conclusion that Watanuki was being either a. chased by a ghost(s) or b. carrying out one of Yuko's missions, which usually just ended up back at a. with him being chased by ghost(s). They would have never guessed that a new category had just opened up—a special, scarier category in which he was running not from ghosts or towards a helpless soul whom he wanted to save, but away from someone. A human someone. A Doumeki-someone.

Watanuki turned the corner for Yuko's house at break-neck speeds, flying through the gate and then the garden like he had wings. He threw every screen-door open in the house, threw every obstacle out of his way—every singing midget girl, even one bouncing Mokona, until finally he reached his target. He threw the last screen door open with a mighty heave and then stood in the doorway, tall as a tower and with hands resolutely on his hips.

"Oh, so you're back," Yuko said as she inspected her nails on her plush couch.

"Oh god I'm doomed!" Watanuki cried, and threw himself down at her feet like a violated geisha, fresh tears spewing from his eyes. "Something terrible happened, Yuko-san. So terrible I don't want to say."

"Then don't," Yuko said, holding her nails up to the light. She began to blow on them.

"Oh god!" Watanuki cried again, holding his head in his hands. "It's awful. I don't know how I can go on living now. Oh Yuko-san, you have to help me. I don't know who else to turn to."

"Let me guess, you were nice to Doumeki and now he's under the impression that you've returned his feelings."

Watanuki immediately stopped crying. He raised his head from the carpet, straightened his back, tucked his knees under him, placed his hands demurely in his lap, and then stared at his employer. "Returned his feelings?" Watanuki asked with a slow tick in his eye. "What do you mean 'returned his feelings'? How long has this been going on for?!"

"Well…" Yuko turned her head away and shared a smirk with the imaginary person to her left, who also seemed to share her twisted sense of humor. She lifted an elegant hand and laid it to one side of her mouth, like her and this imaginary person were now having a good titter. "It started after you had that little run-in with the lady in the park, but it only truly got out of hand after that spider incident—"

"Why didn't anyone TELL ME?!!"

"Well, we were all too busying laughing at your antics, that's why. It's all quite hilarious in an ironic sense, if I do say so myself."

"What the—what the hell!" Watanuki stomped his foot in an impotent rage. "You knew about this and you didn't have the decency to tell me?!"

"No, but I did have the decency to stay out of Doumeki's business. It is his business, after all. If he does not come to me seeking help then what reasons would I have to meddle in his affairs? Plus Doumeki has shown me nothing but respect. I only have the highest regard for him."

"You traitor," Watanuki seethed. "TRAITOR!" he shouted at the top of his lungs whilst pointing an accusatory finger. "You'd take his side before you took mine—your employee who slaves away in the kitchen all day so you can have a hot meal every night."

"I'm not taking anyone's side," Yuko said calmly. "I'm simply sharing my opinion, which I normally do not do. I would think you would be more appreciative. I'm giving you my blessing."

"You can keep your blessings!" Watanuki dismissed with one sharp gesture from his hand. "I want actual help this time. Remember I was following the advice you gave me when this happened," Watanuki reminded her, in an attempt to appeal to Yuko's 'give and take' mentality. "You can't just give me bad advice when I come to your seriously, bearing ohagi no less."

Raising up from the couch in one smooth motion, the folds of her night-gown swishing around her, Yuko walked up to him with a serious look on her face. She put a hand on his shoulder. "I simply gave advice. Now how you chose to use the advice determines whether it is good or bad. My involvement does not determine these things." Yuko then brushed past him without a single word. Watanuki waited for the other shoe to drop and for her to slap him in the back with a squeal of laughter, but when he turned around he found she had really vacated the room.

"Yuko-san," he called after her weakly. He opened his mouth to call her again, but stopped himself with a frown.

* * *

The fact that Yuko-san had left him high and dry was not so much of a shock to Watanuki. Certainly the woman had a history of it. But why Watanuki had expected anything less this time around was possibly the thing that shocked him the most. He had thought that if he came to her and showed her how freaked out he was (because Doumeki truthfully had freaked him out), she would at least give him some more advice. At least that much. But he should have known better.

Sighing heavily that morning, Watanuki belatedly realized that he would not be able to avoid Doumeki for the entire day when he was carrying around a bento box for him. The bottomless-pit would eventually want food, and that want would cause him to make a beeline for Watanuki, the provider of that food.

Watanuki chastised himself under his breath as he lugged around the two bento-boxes on his walk to school. Why hadn't he abstained from making a lunch for Doumeki today of all days? Why couldn't he have done the smart, convenient thing and not made lunch for Doumeki? It would be one less reason for Doumeki to visit him—hell, it would be the only reason why Doumeki ever visited him.

Watanuki frowned at that thought and the conflicting emotions it stirred up inside him. Now that wasn't right. After yesterday's confession, it seemed Doumeki did have another reason for visiting him.

Watanuki instantly went beet red as he thought about the other reason and batted at the air like there was a fly buzzing around his head. "I hope that's not true," Watanuki said aloud to himself.

"You hope what's not true?"

"Oh, that Doumeki has feelings for me."

"I do have feelings for you."

"You would say th—" Watanuki stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening. He slowly turned around and found Doumeki Shizuka standing right behind him, not even two inches away, his own blue eyes dead level with the bridge of Doumeki's nose.

Watanuki blinked as two moss-colored irises came into focus and stared nonchalantly down at him.

"Hey."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Doumeki tilted his head and put a finger in her ear. "Loud," he said as soon as Watanuki had run out of breath.

"You—what the hell." Watanuki jumped back like he was part frog. It was an impressive jump for the amount of ground it covered. "Y-y-you," Watanuki stuttered. He was unable to come to a complete stop from his earlier leap and was still taking some clumsy steps backwards, until he finally lost his balance altogether and fell ungracefully on his backside. Fortunately the boxed lunches landed in his lap.

"What the hell are you doing sneaking up on innocent people this early in the morning?" Watanuki exploded. After getting that out of his system, he took a deep relaxing breath and felt around the front of his uniform, grateful when he found that his heart had not leapt out off his chest in his surprise. He cast a fiery look in Doumeki's direction.

The archer, who was standing over him with his always expressionless face, made no move to defend himself. He glanced at the bento boxes in Watanuki's lap.

Upon seeing where his line of sight was aimed, Watanuki placed a protective hand over the lunches, as if he were a mother who was protecting her babies from a large hungry bear. Why a mother would run into a large hungry bear in the streets of urban Japan was of no consequence to Watanuki's simile.

Doumeki held out a hand to him.

Watanuki gave the hand a wary look. "What?" he said suspiciously.

Doumeki didn't say anything, only waited for him with an outstretched hand.

"You want it now?" Watanuki said in disbelief, as he clung to the boxed-lunches he had made with the utmost care this morning. It hadn't even been an hour since their birth. Doumeki could be such a beast.

"No way," Watanuki said and carefully set the boxes aside, out of the gluttonous reach of the bear standing in front of him. He slapped his hand into Doumeki's outstretched palm, thinking with the stagnant mentality he had tackled life and Doumeki with for the past year that this was not what the archer wanted, which was revealed to be entirely false when Doumeki pulled him up from the ground, into his arms, and flush against his chest.

They stared at each other.

"Oh, I get it now," Watanuki said after a long, stupid pause. He then slapped Doumeki away with both hands. "Fresh bastard," he hissed like a cat.

Doumeki didn't look particularly offended at the name calling, for he was already stooping down and collecting the boxed-lunches. He stood up with his spoils under his arm and didn't move an inch from his spot, seemingly waiting for him to make the next move. There was an intensity to his gaze that made Watanuki think that the archer was waiting for him to confront him on yesterday's events.

Watanuki sighed.

Well, he had brought this upon himself.

It would have been nice if he could avoid this subject and pretend that everything was okay, but the issue had been shoved to the forefront when he'd unwittingly responded to Doumeki's question, and he couldn't go back now. He would also hate to have this hanging around the air all day. It would be best if he just owned up to his mistake, explained to Doumeki that he did not share the same feelings, and hoped that this didn't strain their already tense relationship. Hopefully, Doumeki could be a mature adult about this. Hopefully, Watanuki didn't kill him by the end of this so he could be a mature adult about this.

"Uh…" Watanuki began hesitantly. He swallowed loudly to clear the lump in his throat. He then sighed loudly, thinking that he was just being stupid and delaying the inevitable. "We need to talk," he finally said.

"We do," Doumeki agreed.

Watanuki hadn't expected him to actually vocally agree and so he was a bit thrown off by the strangeness of it. "We do," he echoed, giving himself time to think. "We really need to talk."

"So talk," Doumeki said.

"Why do I have to start?!" Watanuki said defensively, feeling his hackles rise. Then he took another one of those calming deep breaths that were essential in dealing with Doumeki. "I mean, yeah, I will go first." There was some challenge in his voice and Watanuki thought that the last thing he should do was treat this like a competitive endeavor between them. He should let Doumeki down gently, and then, if he still needed that competitive edge, he could run away at the end of blowing off Doumeki.

"I'm flattered, I guess, that you think of me that way, but I can't return your feelings because you're a —" Watanuki had been very close to throwing out an expletive. He stopped himself, thought of a nice word for Doumeki, and drew a long blank. "You're a boy and I'm a boy," he began in another train of thought, abandoning his previous logic when it began to sink like a ship and take him with it. "I like Himawari-chan, and I'm destined to be with Himawari-chan because she's a princess and I want to be her prince, and why are you so intent on getting between Himawari-chan and my love of Himawari-chan."

Doumeki stared at him with a blank stare. Then he smirked. Watanuki didn't appreciate people smirking at him when he was trying to be nice and let them down easy, AND WHAT THE HELL DID HE HAVE TO SMIRK FOR?!

"I never said you had to choose between us," Doumeki said.

"Huh? What're you—" Watanuki gave him a horrified look. "That would make me a dishonorable pig," Watanuki shouted, offended that Doumeki would even suggest such a thing. "You can't like someone and then begin dating someone else. Is that how you are? I thought you were different."

"No," Doumeki said and the smirk had vanished from his face completely. "But you're not going out with Kunogi and she wouldn't mind if you began to."

"But I want to go out with her," Watanuki said in defense. "If I start dating someone, I send her the wrong signals. It's completely out of the question."

"Then ask her out," Doumeki said simply, and Watanuki was surprised at how such an impossible thing could be uttered so bluntly.

"Ask her out? But it's too soon?!" he shouted in panic, like he was being held at gun-point to confess to the girl he liked.

"It's been a year," Doumeki said.

"Well, that's—" Watanuki felt his argument fall through his hands. "Maybe you can move so fast, but I need more time."

There was a tick in Doumeki's eye and Watanuki was surprised to catch it. Surprisingly, the archer looked a little peeved. What did he have to be mad about? If anyone here should be angry, it should be the person who wasn't being listened to. He had told him that he wasn't interested and yet Doumeki wasn't getting the hint to back off. Even worse, he was silently demanding with that monotonous voice of his that Watanuki provide a reason for not wanting to date him. He should just accept it and leave him alone. Why did he have to make this difficult?

"It doesn't matter," Watanuki said. "I said 'no' so you're just going to have to accept that."

"Without good reason... do you hate me?" Doumeki asked after a pause, and Watanuki didn't know what to say.

"Do I—" Watanuki glanced away. "Well, no, I dislike you extremely, but it's not hate or anything, or I don't think it is anyway. If it was hate I would… I don't know what I would do, but I don't hate anyone."

"Do you even like me?"

That was the million dollar question, wasn't it?

"Sometimes," Watanuki said, truthfully, because at this point he owed it to Doumeki to clear up a misconception that had plagued their relationship since they had started hanging around each other. "When you're not being ass, I think I like you. I mean, what do I mean?" Watanuki asked himself and didn't hear anything echo back. "I really couldn't stand you at the beginning of all this, but I…" He stared at Doumeki, really stared at him. "Why do you have to make things so difficult between us now? This is so stupid," Watanuki said, giving up before he could get anything definite out. He tried to brush past Doumeki, but the archer grabbed him by the upper arm and stopped his retreat.

"We're not done talking."

Watanuki bowed his head and his bangs fell over his eyes, masking their emotion. "You're being a jerk," he said softly. "'No' doesn't need a reason. It just is. Take it or leave it."

"I don't think that's fair," Doumeki countered, releasing him. "As long as I've know you, you've never lacked a reason for the choices you make. If you won't go out with me, I won't force you, but I think I deserve a proper explanation as to what exactly you don't like about me."

"Well I can't give you one, so there!" Watanuki said immaturely. "I don't know why we're so incompatible, or why I get so angry when I see your stupid face."

Then something came to Watanuki. It was like a bolt out of the blue. He really had no idea why he disliked Doumeki. Sure he could cite reasons like his stupid-face or his blank stares or his monotonous voice, but all those were reactions to his physical self.

Watanuki's first reaction had been to Doumeki's physical self and not his personality.

Afterwards he had found reasons to dislike Doumeki on a personal level, but the first time Watanuki had met Doumeki it had been a purely physical reaction that had set him off--a purely physical reaction that ended up with a flying kick to his head. He remembered the sensation had been so overwhelming when their eyes had met in the stairway that he'd felt the ground actually shift under him. But when one felt these intense emotions towards someone of the same sex, it was obvious to assume they had a negative basis, one of jealousy or rivalry. And in that split second that their eyes had met, Watanuki had made up his mind that that was what it was.

Then ensued the flying kick.

He truthfully lacked a concrete reason to dislike Doumeki. In fact, he had many more reasons to… like him.

Watanuki shuddered at the horror that revelation brought on. Never. He would sooner be mauled by hungry ghosts than admit to liking that no-face, know-it-all bastard.

He just needed better reasons to dislike Doumeki, and he was sure if he went on a date with a guy like him, those reasons would not be long in coming. "So fine," Watanuki said, thinking out loud, "let's go on your stupid date so I can have a solid reason to dislike you. After school sound fine with you."

"I guess," Doumeki said hesitantly. "I don't want a first date that's sole purpose is to give you reasons to hate me."

"Well too bad," Watanuki cut in and started again towards school.

Doumeki followed behind him. "Where are we going?"

"You're going to hell. I'm going to school," Watanuki snapped.

"I meant our date," and because he couldn't help it he tacked on an "idiot."

"Oh that," Watanuki said, forgetting his ire in favor of thinking his plan through. He was planning to be as bossy and demanding as possible, so that by the end of the date, Doumeki would lose his temper and give him a good bunch of reasons to be angry himself.

It wasn't that Watanuki wanted Doumeki to hate him. He hadn't lied when he'd said it was flattering to be liked by the other boy. It was extremely flattering, especially when he knew Doumeki had the emotional aptitude of a rock. It was sort of a big deal for him to show any interest in anyone. But as flattering as it was, Watanuki could not lose sight of the bigger picture, which was he and Doumeki… they were never meant to be. It just couldn't work out between them.

Watanuki had always pictured his first romance as one that would be… well romantic being the key word here. And he and Doumeki couldn't stop fighting for one second to have that. It was supposed to be all roses and smiling and holding hands, not curses and glaring and attempts to strangle each other. Watanuki was sorry but his boy's heart was not set on those things. And Doumeki would have to learn that the hard way because he had not wanted to drop it. Only the reality of what he was asking for would knock him back to his senses.

"I want to go to that cake-shop near the station," Watanuki announced. "The blue and white one."

"Okay," Doumeki nodded.

"And if you're even a second late, I'm leaving and this date-business is completely over." He'd have his reason to dislike the archer plenty if he stood him up.

Doumeki turned to look at him. "I thought we could walk there together."

"Well, we can't," Watanuki snapped for no other reason than to be troublesome. "I have to tell Yuko-san I'm taking the evening off. You probably have to make up some excuse to not attend archery practice today."

"The coach won't say anything if I don't show. He allows me days off."

"Oh," Watanuki said and had nothing more to say to that.

Doumeki smirked at him. "I won't be late, but you might be."

"Then you'll just have to wait for me. And I might be really late if Yuko-san doesn't think I deserve the day off," Watanuki said, back-tracking. He was starting to think this date with Doumeki was not such a good idea. It certainly wouldn't hurt to give himself a loophole if the need arose to bail. It had suddenly started to sink in that he was really going on a date, his first ever one. He was sixteen now. He thought he was ready to start hanging out with other human beings in this capacity. People dated at his age, but then again some people chose not to and waited until they were really ready. Should he wait longer? You didn't usually rush into these things. Watanuki made another attempt to back out. "I won't hold it against you if you don't want to wait. I might not even show up if I have too much work to do."

"I'll wait," Doumeki said simply.

"But you never know what will happen. Yuko-san is really—"

"I'll wait," Doumeki said, this time firmer.

* * *

Embarrassingly, they ended up walking to the cake-shop together.

While Yuko-san could be very unreasonable when she put her mind to it, his employer was usually fair about giving him days off. She would work him like a dog the next day, but she never stood in his way when he had his own personal affairs to put in order. So he knew that if he didn't show up today, she would go about her day all the same and would not ask him any questions when he came in tomorrow. She might order him around extra, but that was all she would do, and he appreciated Yuko's tact when it came to these things.

He couldn't use Yuko-san as an excuse to bail on Doumeki. At this point he didn't even know if he wanted an excuse. When he had seen Doumeki walking out of the school gates, headed towards the cake-shop, he had found his legs running to catch up with him. It was only after he had caught up that he realized he was making this harder for himself. He was actually sabotaging his own plan!—the plan that he'd spent five minutes out of his lunch period painstakingly detailing. Okay, so not much planning was done as he'd been too busy yelling at Doumeki, but he still had a goal to work towards, and that goal was not running to catch up with Doumeki and fawn on his dumb arm.

So what, Yuko-san could be reasonable and let him have the day off, but that wouldn't stop Watanuki from acting super-unreasonable in her place. It was easy to be polite and considerate, but acting that way had gotten him in trouble with the archer in the first place. So he would be the opposite of nice and see if Doumeki still liked him. (Stupidly Watanuki didn't seem to realize that he had just completed the circuit in what was some very circular logic, for he had been the opposite of nice to Doumeki for all of last year and the archer had not stopped liking him).

"I don't want to sit there," Watanuki said when they reached the cake-shop and Doumeki began to take a seat at one of the tables.

Doumeki paused mid-sit, like he was about to accommodate Watanuki and rise out of his chair, but then he made up his mind that he liked where he was sitting just fine and parked himself right there. He took up the menu and stared down at it. "They have crème-puffs."

"I said I don't want to sit here," Watanuki said, tapping his foot impatiently on the floor.

Doumeki stared at him. Then after a good minute of staring (at this point Watanuki was glaring), the archer stood up from the table.

"Finally," Watanuki sighed and turned around to go find another seat just to be annoying. But he stopped when he heard something scraping against the floor. He turned around to see Doumeki dragging one of the chairs from the table.

"If you wanted me to pull your chair out you should have just asked."

Watanuki blinked at the archer as he stood behind his chair, waiting for him to sit down.

At that moment Watanuki felt an ungodly urge to smash the chair over Doumeki's head, but instead of doing just that, he quietly took his seat and picked up his menu, hoping their server would hurry up so he could focus on something other than the crushing embarrassment choking him, and order something that could choke him just fine on its own.

Hmm, they had crème-puffs.

Watanuki glanced around, looking for their server and noticing how busy the shop was. But that was only normal since it was right next to the station and a lot of kids from school thought it more convenient to come here on their way home. He really should have gone with somewhere more out of the way. He could have gone to the fast-food restaurant where the twins worked, but then Watanuki thought better of it, as it would have been incredibly insensitive to go on a date with Doumeki when both twins had liked him.

Watanuki frowned at that thought. What was up with this guy that girls were always lining up for him? It was just… Doumeki. Watanuki stared at him as the archer dug around in his satchel.

Was it the sports thing? Did they like the fact that he was in the archery club. But if that were the case then why weren't guys in the more athletic clubs like soccer and Judo being bombarded with girls. Watanuki put his hand under his chin speculatively. Maybe they were and he just hadn't noticed.

Or was it that Doumeki only communicated in syllables and that gave him a mysterious aura. Watanuki rolled his eyes. How absolutely retarded. He shook his head. There was no way anyone would find that attractive. It was plainly annoying how Watanuki could bring up a diatribe of complaints against his rival and Doumeki only ever had one or two words to say against it. All that grunting and hmming made him seem more like a caveman. It also didn't help that he ate like one too.

Watanuki bit his napkin, feeling the answer to Doumeki's popularity had no human explanation. Did he have some girl-magnet or something on him? Watanuki squinted at the archer as he continued to dig around in his satchel. Watanuki could see things not of this world, so maybe he had a chance of finding out what Doumeki's secret was for attracting girls, but if that mystery existed somewhere in Doumeki's satchel then he thought he might have a hard time finding it despite his other-worldly sight. Doumeki certainly wasn't having an easy time of it. He'd been digging through his satchel for about five minutes now.

"What are you doing?" Watanuki asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Doumeki said and pulled out a large book.

Was he blind? Watanuki noted the size of the book and wondered how he could have missed that. Did he need glasses? He pictured Doumeki with glasses and had to stifle a laugh.

Doumeki slid the book across the table. "It's a present."

A present? For what? Watanuki gave the archer another suspicious look. "Is this how you start out all your dates? You give presents at the beginning so you can make up for your bad personality? I don't accept bribes so take it—" Watanuki glanced down at the book. "Oh, a cookbook," he said pleased. It was a nice one too. He started flipping through the glossy pages, then he slammed it shut when he realized what he was doing. "I can't accept this. I don't have a present for you."

Doumeki shrugged. "I was thinking you could use it to make one."

A-ha! So Watanuki's present was really his own. "I should have known you were up to something," Watanuki said, fired up to catch Doumeki in the middle of his scheme.

Doumeki shrugged again. "Page 214."

Ah, he knew the exact page and everything! "Do you not get fed at your house?" Watanuki asked seriously.

"All the time, but it doesn't taste the same after eating yours."

Watanuki rubbed the back of his neck modestly. "Well I do enjoy cooking." Then he slammed his hand on the table, realizing what was going on here. "I know what you're up to."

Doumeki gave him a strange look, as if he didn't understand what he was talking about. He truly looked like he had no clue. "We can go to the grocer after and get the ingredients. I'll help you make it."

"Geez, why do I even bother?" Watanuki sighed and settled back into his chair. "You want it so badly that you'll go to all this trouble, then fine. But I'm not carrying any bags."

Doumeki nodded. "So I can come over afterwards?"

Watanuki waved his hand dismissively. "Yes, whatever, unless you don't want to eat your precious—" Watanuki turned to page 214 and his eyes bugged a little. "You expect me to make this in one night?! I do sleep, you know."

"That's why I offered to help," Doumeki said simply.

"The only thing you'll help with is eating," Watanuki grumbled, resting his chin in his hand and looking the other way to convey his indifference to Doumeki's unreasonable requests. He was more than used to it by now. When Doumeki didn't reply, Watanuki turned his head back in his direction. He thought the archer could be a little more responsive here. This date thing had been his idea in the first place, but Doumeki just continued to stare down at the table-top. Watanuki's brows scrunched together in exasperation.

"This is my first date," Doumeki said out of the blue. He was still staring down at the table, like this had been on his mind for some time now. "I've never given a gift to anyone because this is my first date."

Watanuki stopped slouching. "Well... this is my first date too," he said in a confrontational tone. "So don't mess it up."

Doumeki began to smirk.

Watanuki narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"You can be as mean as you want. It doesn't bother me. It's like background music."

"You bas—"

"Welcome to Lily's," a girl in a maid outfit cheerfully greeted, appearing to pop out of nowhere. "Sorry about the wait. What can I get for you today? Would you like to hear about our specials?"

* * *

A/n: Instead of getting too deep into an actual plot, I'd like to just concentrate on how Watanuki and Doumeki's relationship progress from here, or de-progress, as those two just write themselves.


	3. Oh the Awkwardness begins

A/n: How Watanuki confuses himself and everyone else around him.

* * *

"Ouch." Watanuki shook his finger, sucking sullenly on the tip. "I hate this."

Doumeki stepped up behind him. "You okay?"

"I'm fine… but I think I found what Yuko-san was talking about."

"Do you really want to stick your hand in there again?"

Both boys stared at the dark fissure running down the length of the wall. Doumeki had brushed aside the bedroom curtains, or what was left of it in the old house, but no amount of light seemed to be able to penetrate the darkness in the wall.

"I don't have a choice," Watanuki said, while rolling up his sleeves and reaching his hand in again. He saw the same glint that had made him reach into the wall the first time.

"I got it."

"What?" Doumeki asked, moving closer to peer into the crevice.

"I don't know. It has a handle at least." Watanuki began to pull, but whatever it was wouldn't budge. "I think it's stuck. Give me a second." He dug his foot into the wall and resumed pulling.

Doumeki fisted the back of Watanuki's uniform collar. "Things have a habit of pulling back when you're on the other end."

"Only because I have the worst luck when you're around," Watanuki snapped. He gritted his teeth and pulled harder.

"So… what are you doing after this?" Doumeki asked in his normal monotone.

Watanuki was pulling so hard by now that he'd flung his head back and was throwing all his weight in the opposite direction. "I'm…kind…of… busy…right…now," he said, straining.

"That's why I asked what you doing after this," Doumeki repeated in a voice that would have put a robot to shame.

"I don't know. Yuko-san will probably want something fancy for dinner, and I have history homework," Watanuki said, still struggling to pull the mystery object free.

He knew where the archer was taking this. But they'd gone on a date just yesterday. Twenty-four hours hadn't even passed yet. And it had been practically two dates. Not one. Two, if you counted that thing with the coming over and the cooking and the yelling to get out of the kitchen because he'd dropped one of his plates. Watanuki thought that people took dates one at a time, not two at a time and right after each other. Doumeki had no dating etiquette, the barbarian.

"We're at least supposed to wait twenty-four hours until the next one," Watanuki enlightened his stupider half. Yes stupider. "I mean, not that there'll be another one, because who would want to go on a date with you? I certainly don't," Watanuki corrected quickly.

"So what do you call this?" Doumeki asked.

Watanuki turned his head back to the front and doubled his efforts at pulling, as if his attention had never left the wall. "I call it Yuko-san's special slavery. It's because I didn't show up yesterday. Now she's decided to punish me by sending me on one of her ridiculous missions. That's all it is," Watanuki reasoned. "We do this all the time so it doesn't count as a…whatever-you're-thinking-about. It's just errands—and this errand is really stuck in here," Watanuki huffed. He pulled his arm out, wiping his forehead.

Doumeki looked over his shoulder, and then pulled him out of the way by the hold on his collar. He rolled up one his uniform sleeves, taking over for him. "How long will your homework take?" he asked, bypassing every single thing Watanuki had just said in that tremendously irritating way he had.

Watanuki tried to suppress his rage, both at Doumeki's insolence and the seemingly minuscule effort he was using to tug the mystery object out. His upper arm was flexing but other than that he was just standing there like a dumb tree. Actually a tree made more movement than Doumeki—its leaves at least fell to the ground.

"I could help," spoke the tree. "I did mine during the student body meeting."

Aren't you the stupid president, Watanuki was about to say, but thought it better to just let it go. The only thing Doumeki probably did during those meetings was eat his boxed lunches. And do homework, apparently. "If we did go on a date today (I said_ if_ dammit!), then you coming over before would count as… pre-date interaction," Watanuki defined tentatively. He would have none of that anymore. There would only be date-date interaction. Actually there should be no interaction at all because he hated Doumeki.

"It's my homework, so I'd prefer to do it myself," Watanuki continued. "Plus it's a lot." He glanced down at his watch. "I don't think I can finish by seven, and once it gets dark I can't exactly go out." At night ghosts came out at him at full-force. Not to mention it was a school night. He would have to wake up pretty early.

"They won't bother you if I'm there," Doumeki provided.

Well, that was true… but it was still a school night. "Don't your parents mind you staying out?"

"They know I'll come back eventually," Doumeki provided, again as cool as a cucumber.

Watanuki tilted his head to the side, still deliberating. "Uh… I don't know." He should refuse outright. After yesterday's date—dates—he should have enough reasons to dislike Doumeki.

Watanuki's head fell forward and he gripped it between his hands in obvious distress.

Too bad he'd been too busy fighting with Doumeki that he'd completely missed out on any of them. He had wanted to pinpoint the main cause for their friction, but alas it was not meant to be. Some people were just fated to not get along. Hitsuzen, right?

There was really no reason to continue seeing Doumeki like this. They saw enough of each other everyday without adding overtime. More importantly, it couldn't work out between them. They were just too different and had such conflicting personalities, and it wasn't right to continue if it felt doomed from the beginning. Watanuki was a firm believer in being upfront with others, and he could never string someone along because he did not want that person to hate him. He did not want to hurt Doumeki because he did not speak his mind early on.

"I don't think it's a good idea," Watanuki said softly, and tugged on Doumeki's elbow to get his attention. "If I don't like you that way then it's wrong to continue."

Doumeki turned back to the wall, continuing the task he'd taken over for Watanuki. "What's wrong about it if I'm aware? If you don't like me now then keep trying until you do."

Watanuki narrowed his eyes. The gentle pressure of his fingers on Doumeki's sleeve turned into a menacing grip, and he yanked Doumeki's arm back like he was planning to rip it out of its socket and beat the archer to death with it. "This isn't riding a bicycle, you moron!" Watanuki exploded. "It's playing with someone's heart. Your heart. You'd think you'd treat it better."

Doumeki shrugged. "If it's my heart then I should know better than anyone what I want."

"GAH! Do you even hear what you're saying?!" Watanuki yelled, yanking Doumeki's arm back again.

A mysterious 'chink' sound came from the fissure in the wall, and both boys turned towards it.

"I think I got it," Doumeki said, and pulled out his hand holding the mystery object.

"It's a mirror," Watanuki said, forgetting about his anger. "A broken one."

"You probably made me break it when you were yanking on my arm."

"I didn't break it!" Watanuki yelled, quickly remembering that forgotten anger.

"Quiet," Doumeki said, but not to irk the other boy. He looked around the room. "Do you hear that?"

Shifting and creaking sounds had broken out around them, like the house was straining to keep itself upright.

Watanuki's eyes narrowed in thought. "It sounds like…"

A chuck of the ceiling fell right beside him.

"Yahhhh!" Watanuki yelled, and ran around in circles looking for the exit.

"We don't have time," Doumeki said, and grabbed his arm before pulling him towards the window across from them.

"Hey, we're on the second floor."

Despite Watanuki's concerns, Doumeki climbed through, pulling him out right behind him. They both looked down from the roof towards the ground.

"Ah, it looks far," Watanuki said nervously.

"You'll probably land on all fours," Doumeki said and shoved him off the roof without warning. He jumped down after him, landing on his feet right next to a kneeling Watanuki, who had indeed landed the way he had predicted.

Watanuki stared at the dilapidated house as it fell apart on itself. He hung his head dejectedly, breathing out a sigh of utter misery.

"I hate this…."

* * *

"Yay, you found it," Yuko-san said in a depressingly cheerful voice, but she didn't snatch the mirror away greedily like she had a habit of doing. When she saw that Doumeki was still holding onto it, she told him to go bury it in the yard.

"After all we went through," Watanuki said in a voice that could have made even the most hard-hearted person feel sympathy.

"The house is destroyed, so what use do I have with a broken mirror? Plus they bring bad luck, didn't you know?" she said, like he hadn't already run into boatloads of bad luck for that evening. "You two should clean up. Oh, and Watanuki, could you make us some snacks before I give you the rest of the day off. Your poor employer was on the brink of starvation," she said melodramatically. "Don't forget to make something that goes well with sake," she then added cheerfully before disappearing back into the shop, leaving Watanuki and Doumeki standing in the genkan with the cursed mirror.

"Are you going home after this?"

Watanuki toed off one of his shoes, then tiredly sat down to unlace the other one. He was now starting to realize what Doumeki had said about the heart wanting what it did, because right now his heart wanted to do nothing but relax. Though it was irresponsible, homework could wait. His entire life filled with ghosts and dangerous errands could wait. At that moment Watanuki could not help but wish for a normal life filled with normal teenage activities.

"Take me to the movies," he said tiredly, as he stepped up from the genkan. "I don't care what we see, just as long as it isn't horror."

* * *

Watanuki stared at the large movie screen and could not find himself caring too much about the plot, only that there were moving pictures in front of him and he could pay attention to them if he wanted to or not. That feeling in itself was a great one. He had always liked the movies, but his unfortunate ability to attract ghosts had made it so that the movies did not like him back.

The theater was a dark place where, depending on what the screen showed, emotions in the audience could fluctuate from happiness, sadness, anger, and fear. With all these intense emotions trapped in this one place under the cover of darkness, the movies was an ideal place for ghosts.

Watanuki couldn't go to the movies by himself or even with others. Ghosts would spring upon him in no time at all. But with Doumeki here, they didn't even want to come near him. Doumeki and he were seated all the way in the last row, but the few ghosts that had stayed after Doumeki's entrance were now hovering all the way over by the screen, as if they themselves were trying to escape.

Watanuki settled into his chair more comfortably. It was certainly a nice feeling to know he wouldn't be attacked anytime soon… unless Doumeki had to go to the restroom. Then the ghosts would certainly come over here.

"You have to tell me if you're going to the bathroom," Watanuki whispered.

Doumeki gave him a weird look—a person who only seemed to have one expression in his arsenal. "Why?" he asked, and suddenly looked a bit stiff around the shoulders.

It was Watanuki's turn to give him the stare. "No, I don't mean it like that, you weirdo," he hissed, and got a person who was sitting in front of them to shush him.

"You're the weird one," Doumeki muttered, visibly un-stiffening.

Watanuki threw himself back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Nevermind." Relaxing was something of an impossibility with Doumeki around, but it was also the only way he could have the peace of mind to go about it.

He felt like he was taking advantage of the other boy when he'd told him to bring him here. To go on another date like this seemed selfish. Now that he had calmed down, he could see that he'd been caught up in the moment. But honestly, he could not summon the will to care. He was always so tense and jumpy from expecting ghost attacks that it had become apart of his ongoing personality. To feel absolutely safe was rare for him, and he couldn't pull himself away from that feeling, or the person that was making it possible. He just felt so absurdly safe with Doumeki that it was embarrassing.

Was it just the blood running through both their veins the reason he felt this way?

Watanuki turned to look at Doumeki, whose deadpan expression made the movie they were watching seem like one of the greatest exercises in boredom ever. But that was Doumeki's normal face—composed, tranquil, a little cocky. Past the irritation it caused Watanuki on a daily basis, he could see that he'd also grown used to its quiet presence. It was handsome, and dependable, and protective, and was as emotional as anyone's when angered, even more so because it happened rarely.

He thought he could have liked Doumeki's face if it wasn't for the mouth embedded in it.

Watanuki noticed Doumeki was staring at him out of the corner of his eye, having noticed that he was too being watched. Watanuki glanced away due to awkwardness, but he could still feel Doumeki's eyes quietly boring a hole in the side of his face.

"What?" he said, irritated and flustered, but mostly irritated.

Doumeki seemed to get the hint and turned his attention back to the movie. Seeing that he had his chance to continue his study of the strange and stupid creature known as Doumeki, Watanuki glanced back at the other boy, only to have his eyes meet with his for a second time.

Argghh, couldn't he spy on a person in peace?! Why did Doumeki keep looking over here? The movie was being projected onto the screen, not on his face!

Watanuki cleared his throat, pretending to not be bothered by the weird off-again on-again staring contest they kept having. Other than being unbearably awkward, it also made paying attention to the movie impossible. If Doumeki asked him any questions about a specific scene he doubted he could answer him. But then again, Doumeki wasn't paying attention to it either, so what did he have to be embarrassed about. And he doubted Doumeki would ask questions like that in the first place.

Relaxing back into his seat for the second attempt of the night, Watanuki quickly tensed back up again when Doumeki suddenly leaned over and latched onto the straw of his drink, like it was his own. He rested his hand on the arm-rest between them, the same one that Watanuki's hand was currently inhabiting, and Watanuki felt the archer's pinky finger graze his wrist.

The touch was light, almost non-existent, but it still made the fine hairs rise along his arm, the echoes of that minuscule touch running up his shoulder and nape in one small but sharp shiver.

Watanuki blinked in the dark theater.

_What the… _

He glanced over at Doumeki, who was still slurping noisily at his drink, but whose posture no longer seemed as relaxed as it had previously been. The archer sat back stiffly in his seat after another longer slurp, but his hand seemed unwilling to follow and remained on the armrest next to his. When his pinky finger grazed him for a second time—this time on the knuckles-- Watanuki knew he was doing it on purpose.

Watanuki thought it was about the right time to start panicking.

"Ah…hey," he managed to squeak out, but ended up swallowing the rest of his words when Doumeki's pinky and ring finger crept onto his hand, covering his two corresponding fingers, but not going past the middle one.

Watanuki squeezed his eyes shut and dug his fingers into the arm-rest. He felt a very strong urge to kick Doumeki, but the sudden lack of air in his lungs was more of a priority to him right now. Ah, geez, he had not been prepared for this. It was a date, and he'd accepted to go on it, but for some reason it hadn't hit him until now that when a person went on a date, there was usually…these kind of things involved. But he didn't like Doumeki that way and… why the hell did this feel so…

Okay, okay, he could forgive a little hand-holding. It wasn't a big deal. It was innocent, possibly the most innocent of all things that people did on dates. He didn't feel like Doumeki was being too pushy by initiating a little innocent hand-holding either. Not at all.

Doumeki slid his entire palm over his hand, covering it, and suddenly Watanuki felt like he'd short-circuited something in his brain that he'd need in the future. The entire half of his body connected to the commandeered hand went hot and twitchy, and if he hadn't stopped himself, he would have kicked the seat in front of him and possibly the occupant's head as well.

Okay, normal hand-holding shouldn't feel like this. If there was anything normal about this then Watanuki wouldn't be trying to claw out the fabric from his arm-rest. Where were his warm butterfly feelings? He was feeling like he was about to combust.

For the remainder of the movie, Watanuki could not sit still in his seat. He shifted, slouched, shimmied, and did everything that wasn't shouting directly into Doumeki's ear to get his attention—anything to get him to notice what he was doing with his hand. But it was all to no avail. Doumeki seemed to be preoccupied and restless himself: he'd noticed him frequently rubbing the back of his neck and rolling one of his shoulders.

When the credits began to roll, Doumeki stood up haltingly, and then still holding onto his hand, he began to make for the exit. Maybe it was incorrect to say Doumeki was holding his hand, since he'd only curled two fingers around two of his, and by that tentative hold, he was tugging him out of the lobby and into the cool night air.

Watanuki glanced back through the glass door to see if anyone had noticed, but the other people in the lobby were so busily speaking to their friends and so on that it seemed kind of pointless to worry. And even if someone saw, he didn't know them so it didn't matter. Hopefully, no one from school had seen them because he was sick of the other students talking about him. He supposed it was only natural since he'd never made the best (sanest) impression when he's started high-school: running from ghosts through the hallways, shouting at the top of his lungs in class, rolling around on the ground like he was on fire during lunch—no, he had given them enough reasons to call him the seventh wonder of Cross Private. It was only after he'd started running into Doumeki that he'd noticed the ghosts were keeping away from the school building, leaving him to try for a semi-normal high school existence. If rumors started up again about him—sure he could ignore them as he did everything else—but he wouldn't want to drag Doumeki into it, too. He actually had a good reputation at school.

"Mmm." Watanuki tugged at his fingers, giving Doumeki a hint to let go. "We're in public…."

Doumeki slipped his fingers from his. "It's dark."

They were walking down the sidewalk to Watanuki's apartment building, and the street-lamps here were dimmer than in other residential areas.

"That's not the point," Watanuki snapped, reclaiming some of his bite. "What's the matter with you? _That_ was totally uncalled for," and when he said _that_, he meant the business in the movie theatre.

"I thought you wouldn't mind," Doumeki replied, a little too quick to understand, as if it had been on his mind too.

"Well…I didn't," Watanuki admitted breathlessly, "but I wasn't okay with it after awhile. It turned completely abnormal." That had been some abnormal hand-holding if he'd ever seen it.

"It's not like I knew that would happen," Doumeki replied. He seemed to also recognize that there was something not right about the encounter. It wasn't that it had felt bad; on the contrary, it had felt good, way too good for that to be simple holding hand. They hadn't thought it would be that intense, so they were both a bit freaked out. Doumeki shook out the offending hand, like it had gone numb while he was talking. "It felt like I was holding onto a charged battery."

Watanuki narrowed his eyes at him. "Who are you calling a battery? It felt more like a…" He fumbled for the right words, half to simply talk about it and half to one-up the archer with a more accurate description. "It felt more like a furnace—I mean a cold shower," Watanuki quickly changed when he realized what he'd said. No need to give Doumeki a big head over it.

The archer smirked. "I think it felt more like when you shove your hand in a washing machine full of hot water, going counter-clock wise."

"You're really bad at describing this!" Watanuki exploded and stomped off ahead. That was possibly the most retarded thing he had ever heard in his life (and he'd heard Yuko-san singing the old Casshern opening in the bath once), but before Watanuki could put the desirable distance between himself and the archer, Doumeki grabbed his hand.

"Don't run off. You'll get mauled by ghosts."

Watanuki rolled his eyes so his mouth wouldn't have to form the words. It was feeling very dry all of a sudden. "Let go you idiot. We're not supposed to be doing this anyway. I came to the movies with you to relax, not to be all…like this." He would have been more relaxed with a ghost chewing on his face. "It turned really weird," he sniffed.

"I like you," Doumeki said out of nowhere, and Watanuki immediately stopped pulling, "so it'll only get weirder between us if we continue."

"That's right…" Watanuki said slowly, as he realized something.

While he'd been opposed to go out with Doumeki, he'd still made a big fuss about calling these outings of theirs "dates." But was that really right? A date was an unspoken agreement between two people to get to know each other and to see if there was anything of a romantic interest. Their first outing had been a result of anger, the second indifference, and the third because he wanted to get away from himself for one day. He'd known all these things were unfair, so he'd tried to put a stop to these meetings, yet he was still calling it a… date, when that was hardly what this was.

He'd just been hanging out with Doumeki as if nothing had changed between them, even though he'd thought he was more than aware of the change in their relationship. And even worse, Doumeki had suggested it was fine for him to go on like that—people didn't normally like each other when they started dating or something casual like that. But surely those people did at least_ try_ to like that person and went into the date with genuine romantic aspirations, all of which, Watanuki had lacked upon entering.

On some level, Doumeki might have thought it was okay for now--for Watanuki to not be that serious, but after tonight, he seemed to realize that was a little naive of him, especially when he was now intensely staring him down and warning him about future weirdness if they continued. Doumeki was always so dependable and perceptive, so Watanuki had forgotten that he was sixteen like him, that he had zero to none romantic experiences, and he was taking all this as it came. It was like the blind leading the blind. They were really hopeless, Watanuki thought as he sighed.

There was no delaying it now. He would have to either accept Doumeki's feelings and honestly try to make it work, or turn him down completely. There was no gray area.

Yesterday, he would have turned him down flat (and he did), but after tonight he was starting to see that his relationship with Doumeki was not as simple as that. Sure he got angry with him a lot—hell he was a little angry with him right now—but he could not deny that there was… something between them.

But why Doumeki?! Watanuki screamed inside his head. Why did it have to be him of all people?! It just wasn't fair! Wrenching Doumeki's hand up, Watanuki strangled it between his own two hands, as if he was punishing it for changing everything. If this stupid hand had only kept to itself, then he could have remained oblivious and happy. He wouldn't be feeling confused and embarrassed and a little sweaty.

Watanuki's hands flew up to the front of Doumeki's uniform jacket and he began to shake him back and forth. "It's not fair," he cried. "You're messing up my entire life. Apologize for messing up my perfect future life with Himawari-chan. I was going to have a really big, really excessive wedding, with a fondant cake with clusters of sugar-paste blue hydrangeas. Why can't I have my fondant cake with clusters of sugar-paste blue hydrangeas?!" Watanuki shook Doumeki harder and the boy mumbled something about sugar-paste blue hydrangeas being his favorite. "It's not for you!" Watanuki practically screamed. "It was never supposed to be for you…" he said, his anger fizzling out and his embarrassment taking over.

"I don't want to feel anything towards a jerk like you. But now I'm all confused and I want to kick you in the head," Watanuki bawled in the middle of the sidewalk.

"I think that's your natural state," Doumeki said, and then he paused when he recalled the more important part of the sentence. "You're confused about how you feel towards me?"

Watanuki nodded. "I think I'm going to throw up. This is so disgusting and against some laws of Nature, like the one that says not to associate with Doumeki."

"You like me back?" Doumeki asked, trying to separate the jumble of thoughts that was Watanuki's head. He was such a spaz.

"No!" Watanuki said on reflex; then his shoulders sagged in defeat. "Ugh, I don't know. That's why I'm confused. I shouldn't like what we did in the movies but I did! Oh god, don't tell anyone or I'll poison your bento from now on."

Knowing Watanuki and his culinary skill, he could probably make poison taste good, but that was not what Doumeki should be focusing on. He was glad that he'd worked up the nerve to make the first move, especially since it had confused Watanuki. And that was what he was here for, to confuse Watanuki and make his life harder. "So this is a good thing?"

"For you, but not for me," Watanuki said, wanting to set that picture straight. "I'm going to have to really start going out with you, not like what we've been doing now. I'm going to have to put an actual effort into liking you. It's going to be horrible," Watanuki cried.

"So we're officially going out now," Doumeki said, liking the sound of that.

Watanuki put one hand in front of him in a stop motion. It even had its own screeching sound effects. "Not yet, you bastard. This is our…feeling-each-other-out phase." Doumeki nearly choked on his spit when he thought he'd heard Watanuki say 'up' instead of 'out.' "If our next dates go well, then yeah… I guess you could be my whatever…" It didn't sound like he had much conviction behind his words, but the fact that he could not meet his eyes meant more to Doumeki. "But… if we don't work out, then I'll have to break up with you. I'll still be able to have my dream wedding with Himawari-chan, and everything can go back to normal," Watanuki said, with a shaky breath.

Doumeki nodded. "I don't think we can return to being normal with each other if that happens."

"Of course we can't!" Watanuki breathed out, like that was just plain obvious. "I can't even look at you the same anymore. I can't even look at you period." Watanuki turned his back on him and started to hurry down the sidewalk.

"Hey," Doumeki said, trying to stop him.

"Don't follow me you cretin," Watanuki called back. "What do you not get by 'I can't even look at you right now'?"

"But—"

"It's okay," Watanuki grumbled. "I'll run home. The ghosts on the way might not be able to catch me. Anyway… I'll see you in school. We can talk there, dammit." And with that awkward exchange finished with, Watanuki took off, leaving Doumeki on the sidewalk. He watched the other boy disappear into the darkness, and while he had been worried about Watanuki getting attacked by ghosts on the way, he had also thought it would have been nice to walk him home for reasons that they were sort of going out now….

* * *

A/n: Ah, young love is so… awkward. I'm sorry to put Watanuki and Doumeki through this.

Here's a random note about Hydranges that I thought was nice. Hydrangeas can symbolize boastfulness because of all the petals, gratefulness for understanding, or anything sincerely heartfelt.


	4. Heartstrings

Today the boys of class 2-A would be playing against the boys of class 2-B in soccer.

The coach had no idea what it was about this match-up that made him pay more attention, and it wasn't like these two classes were full of J-league material. But if he had to guess, he would say his interest lay in the two lead-players, who, through the spirit of competition or pure unyielding hate for one another, (he was not sure), had revitalized the spectator aspect of the sport.

Watanuki eyes followed the ball as a hawk would follow its prey. A plan was forming in his head—a plan to end all plans; most of his team-mates could tell this because every now and again his glasses would gleam menacingly.

But never mind them, Watanuki Kimihiro was sneakily plotting in the middle of the soccer field, waiting for the perfect moment when he could unleash his plan on the unsuspecting (totally knew what was happening) class 2-A.

His super-genius plan would go a little something like this:

He would steal the ball from class 2-A, somehow make Doumeki look really bad in the process of stealing the ball, and then score the winning goal that Himawari-chan, whose class was playing volleyball on the court across the soccer-field, would see and fall head-over-heels in love with him.

It was a good plan.

Now all he had to do was steal the ball from class 2-A. They were charging towards him now in fact. How nice of them.

Using the speed he had honed throughout his years of running for his dear life, Watanuki was easily able to come out ahead of his team-mates and put himself in a favorable position to claim the ball. The current possessor tried to go around Watanuki, but the spectacle-wearing boy was too quick for him and he kicked the ball from between his legs.

"Doumeki-kun, get him!"

"I'd like to see him try," Watanuki cackled triumphantly as he ran down the field, ball still in his possession. "I'd love to see that big dofus—hey that's my ball! Give it back!" Coming in from the opposite direction, Doumeki swiped the ball and ran off with it, leaving Watanuki with no choice but to turn around and chase him back down the other side of the field, an indignant fist shaking at him the entire way.

"I think you misunderstood the rules behind the game," Doumeki said before kicking the ball into class 2-B's goal and scoring a point. Suddenly a loud cheer went up from the volleyball court where the girls were playing, some of those lovely maidens pressing into the fence and waving at Doumeki to get his attention.

"Stupid Doumeki just evened out the score. It's nothing to get worked up over," Watanuki grumbled, crest-fallen that he didn't have cute girls cheering for him.

"Nice run, Watanuki-kun~"

Like a thousand dulcet bells all harmonizing together to form one beautiful song, Himawari's voice rang into his unworthy ears and brought him back to life.

"Himawari-chan~" Watanuki swooned, and waved back eagerly. "I did it for you. It's all for you~" he squealed, startling every boy within a 100 yard radius of him—which just meant everyone on the field. "Nevermind that sneaky bastard and his dirty tricks. I could run circles around him." Speaking of the sneaky bastard, Watanuki turned to find Doumeki standing right next to him and waving at Himawari.

"She's not waving at you!" Watanuki shouted.

Doumeki put his hand down but did not go back to his own team. "Did you give any thought to what we talked about yesterday?"

Watanuki bent down to tighten his shoelaces. "Of course I did. I gave it a lot of thought."

"And?"

"And what?" Watanuki snapped. "We'll talk during lunch. You don't expect me to just give you the answer now."

Doumeki stared at him with one of his characteristic heavy silences. He looked like he very much expected him to give up an answer now.

"We'll talk when we're alone," he patted Doumeki on the chest, "Okay?" But even though he'd phrased it as a question, he didn't wait around for Doumeki's consent and walked off towards his teammates. It was possibly the reason why, when he reached his side of the field, he could still feel Doumeki's eyes on him, boring into his head.

When everyone had gathered around the center-line to fight for the ball, Watanuki avoided eye-contact with Doumeki, as it was just easier to play without having that on his mind.

His side was able to wrest the ball away from class 2-A, and as they all rushed ahead towards the goal, the current possessor passed it to Watanuki, but at that exact moment Doumeki put himself right in Watanuki's path, and the other boy, running at a full sprint, slammed right into him.

Not wanting the ball to get away from him, Watanuki scrambled up onto his hands, ready to take off after it, but it seemed the body beneath him had other ideas in mind, because when one of Watanuki's legs cleared the archer's shoulder, he grabbed the ankle and pulled so Watanuki ended up doing a bellyflop in the grass.

The coach blew the whistle.

"Foul!" Watanuki's voice reached a pitch that not even the whistle could approach. "Foul! If anyone saw that blatant foul I'll be asking them to give their eye-witness account in a court of law. I'll promise you full protection against Doumeki—hey!" Watanuki was trying to get up, but Doumeki still had a hold of his ankle and he yanked him back so he fell on his stomach again. That earned Doumeki a sharp curse from Watanuki and it made the coach, who had been walking over, start to jog.

"Boys, boys, what's going on here?"

Doumeki dropped his ankle and sat up on his elbows. Watanuki, still face down in the grass, raised an indignant finger in the air to get the coach's attention. "Foul!" he declared, except that it didn't sound like "Foul!" with all the grass in his mouth.

"Okay, everyone get back to your sides. Doumeki-kun, Watanuki-kun, be more careful around each other or else you'll both be put in time-out. Okay?"

"But…" Watanuki scrambled onto his feet, kicking Doumeki in the face in the process, which made the archer fall back onto the grass, "Doumeki fouled me. I have proof. I have eye-witnesses. Anyone?"

Everyone on the field was already scattering by the coach's instructions. Watanuki turned back to the coach with a strained smile. "I'll go back to my side now," he said and started packing it in his team-mates' direction, but not without throwing a glare in Doumeki's direction first.

The second bout for the ball ended in Watanuki passing it to one of his team-mates because Doumeki would not leave him alone. But even when the ball was no longer in his possession, Doumeki would still not leave him alone. It got to the point where the coach had to give them a second warning to separate.

"You need to get away from me."

"You don't own the field," Doumeki said prosaically. "I can stand wherever I feel like standing."

"But I do own the space around me," Watanuki snapped, "and the space around me doesn't want a Doumeki in it!"

Doumeki shrugged. "That's too bad for the space then."

"Asshole! You're such an asshole. I don't even know why I'm even trying to go out with you." Watanuki abandoned his prime spot near the goalie post. He would intercept the ball in another area—far away from Doumeki. But Watanuki only got as far as a couple of steps before he realized Doumeki was following him.

"You don't know when to quit."

"We need to talk," Doumeki called after him, "before your erratic brain writes off yesterday as nothing but a mistake. You avoided me all of this morning and now I'm being avoided again when I bring up the subject. I don't think I'm being unreasonable in assuming you're trying to back out."

Watanuki turned towards Doumeki with a horrified expression, not because Doumeki had spoken more than one sentence in one go—although that had something to do with it--, but because of what he was saying. "Do you want to have it out here in the middle of the soccer field? I told you we would talk about this in PRIVATE!"

"Okay," Doumeki said, but it didn't sound like he was agreeing with him, more like he was about to do something that would have everything fall in place--for him--as far as this argument went. Watanuki gave the archer a wary look.

"Hey, you two stop talking over there and get in the game. This is your last and final warning."

"Oh, sorry coach." He turned away from Doumeki for a second, so he was surprised to see the archer already halfway across the field and heading towards the ball. Watanuki ran to catch up, forgetting about his previous anxiety as the game came back into focus. One of his team-mates passed the ball to him when he reached their side and he ran towards the goal, dodging human-shaped obstacles left and right. The score was still 1-1: a stalemate that Watanuki was planning to break.

But first he had to defeat the final boss, the 'really annoying, thinks he's so mature, actually had the nerve to question my sincerity' final boss. He also went by Doumeki in some circles.

Watanuki trapped the ball against his foot and glared at the boy standing in the way of his goal. He pointed towards him in the traditional 'I'm going to defeat you and laugh about it later' pose.

Doumeki tried to kick the ball away from him, but Watanuki feinted to the left, escaping with the ball to the right, and there was much celebration and laughter in Watanuki's world… until Doumeki turned around and tackled him from behind.

"!!!"

Past the loud and quite embarrassing yell made by Watanuki, there was a general hush over the soccer field as everyone watched the school-body president tackle the school-spaz. Most had no idea how to consolidate the information they had about these two with the reality of what was going on, so they tried not to.

"Ow, get off—" Watanuki elbowed Doumeki in the head, "Get off me!"

The coach dropped his whistle.

"This isn't Rugby! SOMEONE TELL HIM THIS ISN'T RUGBY!!"

* * *

Currently, Watanuki was pretending to exist in a world devoid of Doumeki and anything that was Doumeki-like. It was pretty hard to do this, however, when the very thing he was trying to deny existence to was sitting right next to him in the grass.

"This is _my_ time-out area. Get out of it and find your own."

Unfortunately Doumeki chose that time to exercise a few of his basic human rights, mainly freedom of speech, which in his case came out to none-speech, and freedom to annoy Watanuki by not moving, which was pretty self-explanatory.

"Can't you understand that we're in trouble and we can't exactly sit next to each other because that would get us in deeper trouble?"

"My team is beating yours."

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING I JUST SAID?!"

Doumeki paused, shrugged. "We're alone now."

"Yeah, I know. I hate it too," Watanuki replied.

Doumeki turned to stare at him. "You can talk now."

"Why would I want to do that and with you of all people?" Watanuki said acidly.

"Because we're alone. No one will bother us until the match is over, so you can say whatever you have to say to me now."

Watanuki stared at Doumeki as if he was the devil himself, which in all fairness to the devil he probably had better manners. "You bastard…you got us both kicked out of the game because of that. I told you, we would talk about it during lunch. We eat on the stairway to the roof sometimes, so I thought that would be a better place than the middle of a _field_."

Did Doumeki think he would try to back out of his promise? Did he actually think he would pretend that nothing had happened yesterday? Watanuki did not have the best track record when it came to being upfront with his feelings; denial had helped him deal with his existence as well as many other things in his life, but surely Doumeki didn't think he would—

Watanuki lowered his eyes to his lap as his fingers fiddled with the end of his shirt. Of course Doumeki thought that when he'd been avoiding the subject and doing suspicious things like not making eye contact. His embarrassment over their newly forming relationship was coming off as guilt and it was making Doumeki anxious to talk. Watanuki bit into his lip, not knowing exactly how to take this news.

Why did Doumeki want to go out with him so badly?

Watanuki pressed his hand against his chest, feeling his heart-beat quicken. The back of his neck had gone warm and for a moment he could not think. "I ah… look." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I just wanted us to be alone when we talked about this. Don't take it like I'm avoiding you because I do want to—" Watanuki lowered his eyes, "…you know. And I'm free today after school…"

A dark golden pupil slid towards him, but the owner of that stare did not turn his head to acknowledge what he'd said, instead he kept on watching him with that one immutable eye.

"We could…do something," Watanuki suggested hesitantly, "Unless you're busy with archery practice or just want to be an _asshole_-and-make-me-do-all-talking-while-you-look-on-like-a-dimwitted-bystander."

Doumeki finally turned towards him. "I had to pretend I couldn't evade someone who trips over his own feet at least once a day. Don't act like you're the only one who's trying hard."

"Hey, if you wanted to talk, you should have just said something," Watanuki said callously.

"I did and you ignored me."

"Well…" Watanuki could not deny that he had blown Doumeki off when he'd tried to talk to him. "That doesn't matter anymore," he said, neatly sweeping the blame under the rug. He was very good at housework. "What matters now is that you're a psycho who overreacts."

"The amusement park has discount on tickets. I want to go."

"That has nothing to do with you being an overreacting psycho," Watanuki replied. "Transition. Transition, at least! …And why the amusement park? It's so lame…" and scary. As lame as it was for two boys to go to the amusement park, it was a much scarier experience when taking into consideration that one of those boys was a ghost magnetic. And there were plenty of ghosts to be had at the amusement park. Even if Doumeki was with him, some ghosts might still chance an encounter.

"The only people who go to amusement parks are children and lovey-dovey couples." Sighing, Watanuki rested his chin in his hands and gazed off towards the volleyball court. "Ah, I wish I could go there with Himawari-chan."

Watanuki could suddenly feel Doumeki staring at him. Hard.

He sat up. "What?"

"I'll pick you up at five," Doumeki said coldly, and stood up to go elsewhere. The bell for the end of the period had yet to sound so Watanuki was at a lost as to where Doumeki thought he was going.

"That's fine, but, hey, where do you think you're going?"

Doumeki didn't answer him as he walked off towards the other side of the field.

"Doumeki," Watanuki called, slightly irritated by the other boy's sudden need to ignore him. "Oi. Dou—" Watanuki frowned as he watched Doumeki walk out of hearing distance.

What was up with him? He had even left without making one of his impossible bento requests.

Resting his chin in his hands, Watanuki sighed for the second time that morning.

"What does he have to be so moody about?"

* * *

As far as classic dating spots went, amusement park was pretty high on the list. He'd even overheard some of the girls talking about it once, about dates at amusement parks and what that usually said about the guy who wanted to take you there. Watanuki had listened very attentively—he suspected he was not the only boy who was doing so—and had come away with a bunch of contradicting statements that did not really prepare him for anything other than being confused.

If your date took you to the amusement park on the first or second date it meant he was a fun guy, that was the first statement of the hour. But then another girl had interjected that no, that wasn't right. Amusement park dates are so overdone. It means he has no imagination whatsoever. Boring. Moving on…. Another girl had added that while it was overdone, the classics still had their charm and screw you my very first date with my new boyfriend was at an amusement park. Then someone from another class, who was not a girl and again not even from their class, jumped in and added that the haunted house was a great way to get his girlfriend to cling to him, and then a girl had added that her boyfriend was usually the one clinging because the fake spiders rightly freaked him out.

So that was the info Watanuki had to work with when he entered the amusement park that evening with Doumeki. He had no idea why Doumeki had wanted to come here, but he suspected his reason didn't have anything to do with the reasons his classmates had listed. It was never a good idea to overthink Doumeki. He was a pretty straightforward guy, and if he provided a reason, then it was best to take it at face value: a discount on tickets was his reason.

Doumeki didn't put special emphasis on locations or activities like most people their age—good restaurants and eating were the exception, but other than that he had no preferences. He looked just as comfortable sitting in an empty dojo as he did standing in the middle of a crowded amusement park. The location or the activity was not going to give him any enjoyment, only Doumeki could do that, and Watanuki was of a like mind, so he could tell that despite the blasé expression Doumeki wore, he was amusing himself in his own way, which for Doumeki involved a lot silence and the occasional, well-timed smart-ass comment when Watanuki had done something especially spaz-tastic.

To demonstrate his point observe article A—the first roller-coaster ride of the evening. Watanuki had yelled the entire way through and Doumeki had remained as silent as a wall, but the moment the ride had stopped, Doumeki's first reaction was to face him, unnecessarily place a finger in his ear, and then say 'shut up.' It looked like he'd been waiting to say that even before they'd gotten on the ride.

When they were going through the haunted house, Watanuki's shirt had caught on one of the card-board ghosts, and thinking it was a real ghost that had grabbed him, Watanuki's survival instincts had immediately kicked in and he had taken off, dragging the cut-out with him the entire way through the haunted house until he'd reached the hall of mirrors and had seen that his attacker was made out of cardboard. It was at that moment that Doumeki, coolly walking in behind him, said that someone might try to hire him to freak out the other couples since he was already so good at it.

After Watanuki had stood outside the exit of the haunted house and bowed to each white-faced couple upon their nervous exits—made Doumeki do it too because his face was too stupid to not apologize to someone about it—they walked around the amusement park and Doumeki got side-tracked by the kiddy-rides, and when Watanuki said side-tracked, he meant he climbed into a retarded fish creature that looked way too happy for it not to be a thing of pure evil, and then proceeded to ride it, while telling him to get on—because apparently it was so slow that Watanuki could just get on. Watanuki was, however, too busy laughing at the ridiculous picture that the archer posed in said kiddy-ride to even fathom joining him, but then Doumeki had said card-board cutout and the laughter had stopped.

They ended their date on the Ferris wheel. Watanuki had decided even before they'd entered the park that this would be their last ride. He and Doumeki seriously needed to talk and the other rides, with their break-neck speeds or in the kiddy rides' case embarrassingly slow speeds, were not conducive to this. He was still… sort of confused as to why Doumeki liked him, no actual reason had ever been given, so Watanuki thought they could take this moment to clarify some things. Like feelings, or dating rules, or anything that was important to them getting through this evening without someone ending up dead.

Watanuki took the seat across Doumeki and waited for the ride to start. He could hear the crank and strain of metal as it unlocked itself from its resting position and began to move forward. He gripped the underside of his seat when he heard the groan from the metal go on for longer than he wanted it to, then relaxed when the low thrum from the internal machine took over.

Watanuki glanced over at Doumeki expectantly, waiting for him to say something. But it seemed his expectant look had confused the archer, because in the next instant he began to stand up in his seat, like he was about to come over.

Startled, Watanuki kicked his leg out, lodging his foot in Doumeki's stomach and pressing him back towards his seat. He had a feeling Doumeki had wanted to sit next to him, but Watanuki would have none of that. The bench was big enough for two people, but it would still be kind of cramped, and Watanuki truly did want to have that serious talk with Doumeki. And he sensed that nothing of the sort would be accomplished if Doumeki parked himself right next to him: it would be way too distracting for all parties involved. Better to have Doumeki where he could keep an eye on him.

Watanuki pressed his foot harder into Doumeki's stomach and got the other boy to fall back in his seat. Doumeki gave him a somewhat irritated look before he started to stand up again, like he was about to give it another go, and Watanuki raised his leg in warning for him to sit back down.

"I won't do anything," Doumeki replied, unnecessarily serious. He intercepted the foot that went to push him away, and as if to off-set his tone, he grabbed it by the ankle and pulled back a little; Watanuki slipped down in seat and would have fallen right off if he hadn't finally kicked Doumeki away.

"I know that!" Watanuki said as he crawled back up his seat. "I'm just… we have things to talk about."

Doumeki sat back down and leveled him with a critical stare. "Like what?"

"Like what?" Watanuki asked in disbelief. "Like… all kinds of things. Like what we're going to do now."

"I thought we could go get ice-cream."

Watanuki felt like taking off one of his shoes and lobbing it at Doumeki's head. "Not that, you idiot. I'm talking about what we're going to do now—now that we're going out."

"Ice-cream," Doumeki repeated.

"You really are hard of hearing," Watanuki hissed and dared Doumeki to say something stupid again. He was reaching for his shoe.

"So what do you want to talk about?"

"Me? It's not just me," Watanuki bitched. "You're in this too. I might let you get away with all that 'hmming' and grunting crap because I know you're brain is really tiny and it can't be expected to run at the same speed as mine, but I at least expect some form of human communication once in a while."

Doumeki's eyes narrowed a bit, so they were even narrower than usual.

"You're lucky you're cute and can cook or I would have thrown you from this ride a long time ago."

"See, was that so hard?" Watanuki said, not really paying attention to the words as much as the word-count. Then he stopped as it dawned on him what Doumeki had just said. He narrowed his eyes and frowned. "What the hell did you just say to me?"

"Insulting me is not communication," Doumeki stated.

Watanuki continued to glare at Doumeki.

He did not appreciate being called 'cute.' Handsome and good-looking were totally acceptable, but cute was not something any guy appreciated being called. Doumeki had better take it back or he was going to be the one thrown from the ride.

"You called me what?" Watanuki's eye-glasses hitched down his nose.

Doumeki stared back at him like that was the least of their problems. "I think you might be onto something when you say we need to work on our communication skills, you especially."

"Me?! Oh no-no-no-no, you're the caveman here. Don't put us in the same category."

"I'm not," Doumeki said, "you talk a lot. But that's not the problem—it's what you say to me half the time. Everyone else gets the nice treatment."

"Well… that's…" Watanuki struggled for a reply that didn't involve 'shut up.' "Hey, look, you're always insulting me so how I am supposed to react."

Doumeki looked like he'd concede with him on that point. "I'm not always the one who starts it."

"So what do you want me to do about it? Stop being such an asshole and I'll be nicer to you. It's as simple as that."

"Is it really?" Doumeki said, raising an eyebrow.

"Okay, I'll try to be better about it—better than you anyway," Watanuki added, completely missing the point of what Doumeki was asking for. He tapped his foot against the metal grating below him and his mind wondered back a few lines in the argument, and then a few more lines to the reason he'd want them to talk in the first place.

"So…is that why you like me?"

"Hmm?" Doumeki was staring out the side-window, but Watanuki could tell he had his attention.

"I can cook and I'm…" he struggled with the word cute, but it seemed the archer had picked up on that.

Minutes ticked by and Doumeki had yet to turn away from the window. Watanuki had all but given up on an answer when a single word traversed the space between them.

"Bonuses."

Bonuses? That was it? Then if Doumeki rated his ability to cook and his looks as bonuses, what were they bonuses of? Watanuki was pretty proud of his cooking ability and he wouldn't have had a problem if Doumeki liked him because of it. His looks he wasn't so sure of, but he at least tried to keep himself tidy and well-groomed. Though Doumeki liking him solely for looks would have been hard to believe, because the last thing Doumeki came off as was superficial. Neither did Watanuki see himself as some great beauty that could draw people's attention in that way, definitely not when compared to the girls that confessed to Doumeki on a regular basis. They were great beauties. He was just… normal looking.

"Bonuses…" Watanuki repeated, like it would make more sense if he said it out-loud.

"Really good bonuses," Doumeki clarified. He was still looking out the window.

Watanuki would have blushed if he still wasn't so confused over the real reason Doumeki liked him.

"So what's the reason you actually like me?" At this point he just wanted Doumeki to cut to the chase.

Doumeki finally turned away from the window. He looked deeply into his eyes.

"If you have to ask me the reason then I have nothing to say. Also the ride stopped."

Watanuki blinked. "Huh?"

"The ride stopped." Doumeki stood up, waiting for the gate to the unlatched, and Watanuki scrambled out of his seat after him, not wanting to keep the other patrons waiting for their turn to get off.

* * *

Watanuki climbed the steps for his apartment building. He could hear Doumeki behind him, his footsteps completely out of synch with his own, and he felt the sudden urge to match their pace, as if that would somehow help console their disparate personalities.

His door was an imposing figure of his night when he walked up to it. He heard Doumeki step up on the landing behind him, and he hesitated to turn around and face the archer.

Watanuki nervously touched a hand to his pants-pocket where he kept his house keys. He had a sudden urge to throw his door open and close it behind him forever. And was there any way that would not come off as insulting, because, on the whole, the date had been enjoyable. It had been a date for one. Doumeki and he had had a real date where both of them considered it a date and no one had died horribly. There'd been that one moment in the night where he thought he might kill Doumeki because he wouldn't be upfront over why he liked him, but after they'd gone for ice-cream, his craving for Doumeki's destruction had dissolved into a craving for blueberry fruit sorbet, and their conflict had run its course. Watanuki thought he should take a moment to bask in the victory of an actual post-date event.

He wanted to bask, but he'd gotten himself even more nervous with his mention of 'post-date event.' From all the movies he watched and all the talk he'd overheard of what others did after a successful date, some type of… physical gesture should be exchanged.

Like a punch in the face.

No, not like a punch in the face. What was he thinking? Well, that was the point; he wasn't thinking, couldn't think because he was so nervous. Maybe if he punched Doumeki in the face it would help with that. Watanuki put his head in his heads: oh god this was so hopeless.

"Watanuki."

Despite his nervousness his body apparently knew what to do and turned around in answer to that call.

Doumeki didn't usually call him by his name; it was usually 'idiot' or some other annoying moniker that from mere recollection made Watanuki suddenly want to punch him in the face, and not for reasons of nerves, either. Wow, he didn't feel nervous anymore. He just felt annoyed and somewhat bitter.

Watanuki crossed his arms in a challenge pose. "We went on a date so I think you know what to expect now."

Doumeki stared back at him like he was an idiot.

"_I swear to god I'll punch you in the face."_

"I don't think you can make this any less romantic," Doumeki replied.

"Che, I am much more romantic than a _mere_ Doumeki, so shut up and get over here."

Doumeki was still staring at him like he was an idiot.

"I held your hand on the way over here and got your cooties all over me; I think I've gotten over the hard part. This should be a piece of cake," Watanuki bragged, steeling himself for what was to come. "So…any time now." Watanuki reached up to take off his glasses, but Doumeki's hand on his wrist stopped him.

"Don't take it off."

Watanuki blinked at Doumeki in surprise. "What?"

Doumeki answered him by tightening his hold on his wrist and drawing his hand down to his side, far away from his glasses. Watanuki did not know exactly how to take this. Should he be worried? He was feeling worried. "But they'll… get in the way," he added, now feeling other kinds of nervous.

Doumeki did not really look like he cared about things getting in the way. He tugged him closer by the hold on his wrist and Watanuki turned his head to the side to avoid meeting him face to face. He could feel Doumeki's breath against his cheek, and he closed his eyes momentarily, feeling suddenly overwhelmed by just this alone. Doumeki's other hand tentatively traced through the hair near his temple, pushing it back and revealing more of his forehead, and Watanuki tried to turn his head the other way. He only got as far as Doumeki's cheek, however, before his eyes traced his jawline back to his mouth. Face to face like this, it put them much closer than Watanuki expected, but he suddenly couldn't find the reason why that was so bad.

And up close like this, Watanuki was struck by the unusual shade of brown of Doumeki's eyes. His eyes were small, so it was usually hard to tell, but they were this… peculiar tawny color, with tiny flecks of gold dispersed around the small dark pupil. The right eye was a duller shade of its counterpart and, looking at it, Watanuki felt a pang go through his chest. He suddenly lost his self-consciousness and slid a finger down the side of that eye.

It was such a shame. His eyes were so beautiful and yet he'd given one up so easily… Watanuki slid his hand around Doumeki's neck, about to pull him down for a kiss.

His breaths were coming in fast, faster now with every second that dragged by and they stared at each other from so short a distance. Anticipation and nerves were one part of it, but being so close to Doumeki, feeling his breath pick up along with his, his jaw go tense, his eyes go hard, there was something else, something inside of him, of both of them, that was making this so…

Watanuki licked his lips. Geez, they hadn't even kissed yet and he already felt like he was about to faint.

Was this normal? It certainly didn't feel normal. And throughout it all there was this indefinable pressure in his chest that felt like it was expanding out with every breath he took, but at the same time constricting all the organs in his body that fell into its radius--most notably his heart. Watanuki felt like gasping for air. This was the movie theatre all over again, except more intense, more…

Watanuki gripped the back of Doumeki's neck in a not-too-gentle hold. Doumeki didn't seem to notice because he was giving Watanuki's wrist the same treatment.

Watanuki had a fleeting thought of being in way over his head before Doumeki leaned in and kissed him. It was only a brush of lips, but that pressure in chest constricted even tighter until Watanuki felt like he might die from it and wouldn't mind terribly.

He wrapped his other arm around Doumeki's shoulders and the kiss became less hesitant, turned into a chain of slow, gentle kisses that involved nothing more than lips and breath, and yet, for every second that slipped by, had them pressing in closer and closer together, those kisses pursuing each other at shorter and shorter intervals until Doumeki crushed him to his mouth and it turned into one long liplock.

The hand on his lower back was pushing more upward than forward, forcing him on his toes, and Watanuki shoved at the hand—really had to shove hard, because Doumeki was strangely strong and he was putting all that strength into holding him still.

Watanuki fell back a few paces and ended up banging into the door behind him, his breath all over the place as he clutched at his chest.

Holy crap. That was…what was that?

Doumeki was still standing where he'd left him, eyes wider than Watanuki had ever seen and hair all disheveled in the back from where his hands had been roving not even a minute ago.

Watanuki swallowed and felt for the door knob. That pressure in his chest was out of control. But now that he and Doumeki had some space between them, he was starting to figure out what it was.

Pulling.

It was like he had cords tied around his heart and they were pulling him with everything they had towards Doumeki. The sensation was so intensely physical that his hand was groping around at the front of his shirt, expecting to feel chords coming out of his chest, expecting to see them coming out of Doumeki as well. A few deep breaths later, Watanuki felt the pressure between them go taunt, like a leash that had spanned its length and could go no further in either direction.

Doumeki took a tentative step towards him and that pressure returned, double—triple—made Watanuki want to throw himself at Doumeki. He'd think that whatever this was would slacken up, give them some reprieve when they did what it wanted and got closer to each other, but it only made the pressure worse. Doumeki took another step towards him, then another, so he was right in front of him now, the look in his eyes now that he could make it out smoldering, as if he'd let that intense magnetic power possess him.

"We…" Watanuki swallowed as Doumeki leaned into him. "We should really say goodnight to each other now."

Doumeki nodded, in full agreement of what was being said, but didn't move an inch. Watanuki felt breath on his neck and he rested his hand in the middle of Doumeki's chest, ready to push him away, but found himself instead pulling him closer.

Oh really, what was going on here?

"I'm-I'm saying goodnight now," Watanuki stammered. He gripped the doorknob beside him and could not make his hand move no matter how hard he willed it to. "I'm serious…I'm…" Doumeki's hand suddenly covered his on the doorknob and he turned it for him, opening the door behind them. Doumeki then put both hands on his shoulders and in a deliberate gesture moved him to the other side of the threshold. He then moved to pull the door close, but Watanuki grabbed the doorknob on his side of the door, pulling it open.

"I…" He had something important to say, something truly life-changing on the tip of his tongue. "I had fun." That was certainly not it.

"Lock the door behind you," Doumeki said, gripping the doorknob tighter than was necessary.

"Right. Bye." For some reason that escaped him he raised his hand to wave. "Bye."

Doumeki pulled the door close haltingly and then there was the sound of absolute silence on both ends, before Watanuki heard Doumeki slowly make his way down the stairs. Watanuki was also slowly making his way down something, his back sliding down the door until his legs finally gave out and he crumpled the rest of the way down. He leaned his head back into the door and realized he'd yet to lock it. He should do something about that. When his legs worked, he decided.

A half-an-hour later Watanuki had yet to get up.

* * *

**A/n:** Watanuki and Doumeki are seriously meant for each other. Anyone who thinks otherwise is not reading the same manga as me.


	5. Oops

"Yes, what is it?"

Watanuki stopped dusting a nearby shelf and looked back at his employer, who was taking her tea today in the western-style room at the front of the shop.

"I didn't say anything, Yuko-san."

The dark-haired woman picked up her cup and took a pensive sip. "Not yet, but I can tell when something's bothering you. You've been very quiet today."

Watanuki lowered the duster. "I have?"

"Yes, Maru and Moro are concerned. Mokona says to check your temperature. I'm inclined to agree. Your chi flow has been off as of late."

Watanuki took a few steps towards the table, about to protest. He didn't feel sick, far from it, and he could work just fine. And as far as being quieter, well, how could she tell when he hadn't even been here for more than ten minutes? He'd only just arrived from school.

Watanuki wanted to take the defensive approach, but he knew deep down that Yuko-san could tell more about him in five seconds than most people could in a life-time. And so did Maru and Moro. And Mokona.

His spirit was as tangible to those in this shop as the furniture in this room, and if there was the slightest disturbance, it was only all too obvious to them. He couldn't exactly hide anything, and neither did he want to, because, in all honesty, he was troubled right now, and he always knew he could go to Yuko for help if he needed it. Though his trouble was…not the usual sort of trouble he always found himself in.

"I'm fine," Watanuki said, because he didn't want to worry them unnecessarily, "but…" He wrung the end of the duster, trying to figure out a way to put this.

Yuko glanced at the unoccupied seat across her and, taking her hint, Watanuki pulled the chair out and sat down.

It was difficult to start to explain his problem when he couldn't exactly put into words what was going on. Not to mention the embarrassment. Yes, very embarrassing.

But this had been bothering him ever since yesterday--longer than that. Bothering him since he and Doumeki had started to go out together. No, even longer than that. The first day they'd met. He could only now admit it.

"Um…" Watanuki wrung his hands and looked at Yuko bleakly. He didn't want to come out and say it, but neither did he want to keep this to himself when it was eating him alive. He wondered how he could ease into the subject. "I'm just curious but… does Yuko-san mind telling me about…" No, this was definitely not the route to take. Watanuki had only realized that after he'd said it, but he couldn't exactly take it back now. "Um," he cleared his throat, wrung his fingers some more, "Would Yuko-san mind telling me about her…first…kiss?" Painful. It was so painful hearing himself say those words. God, let him die of embarrassment now.

However, Yuko was handling his request much better than he expected. She didn't look surprised or even amused, only took another serious sip from her cup. "Hmm," she pondered, "it was such a long time ago. I can't say I remember the details too much."

"I don't need details. I don't really want details," Watanuki said quickly, since Yuko was like a… to him and he didn't need any mental pictures. "Just…the feeling. Like…" and this was going to sound weird, "was there possibly a pulling sensation involved?"

"He was pulling my arm—"

"NO!" Watanuki sliced the air, cutting her off at once. "That's not what I asked. Dear god, that's not what I asked."

Yuko smirked, appearing to regain her twisted sense of humor. She rested her chin in her hands and gazed at him across the table, like she was recalling it all. "Hmm, now that I notice it, you do look a bit like him—very pretty and fragile. I remember I would have to corner him to get any action."

Watanuki's head fell into his hands as he lost all hope for this conversation. "Yuko-san, you sound like a total and utter rapist."

"His sense of humor was horrible, though," she continued, despite Watanuki's comment that she was a rapist. "He was always laughing at his own jokes like they were funny."

"Yuko-san," Watanuki groaned, hoping she would stop with the TMI, "back to what I was saying…"

"Oh yes, the first kiss," she said, getting back to the point. "Well, as far as that went, it felt like a warm bottle of sake with somen noodles and—"

"Dammit, you're just telling me what you want for dinner!"

"How do you know? You weren't there."

"Yuko-san," he said indignantly. He was this close to going back to dusting. "Isn't there anything else you can tell me? Did it…did it feel…" and again, this was going to sound weird-- "like there was something forcing its way into you, or you had a clasp around your heart and it was squeezing really tight until you thought you might pass out, or—"

"That's quite detailed," the older woman said, raising an eyebrow. "But no, I don't think it felt quite like that. A first kiss is different for every person, though what words we use to explain that experience usually adds to the difference. In some way, we all experience the same thing, but…" Yuko-san stared at him, "I think you're forgetting something important."

"Important?"

"That you and Doumeki are both anomalies within this world, and that your interaction is bound to cause some strange phe—"

"Who said this had anything to do with Doumeki!" Watanuki shouted in horror.

Yuko stared at him like he was idiot, which he was, because he thought he could get through this conversation without revealing who the second guilty party was.

"As I was saying before," Yuko continued, like she wouldn't appreciate any more obvious interruptions, "you and Doumeki, while you both very much reside in the physical world, your bodies also operate on a spiritual level. Watanuki, you can draw spirits to yourself, and Doumeki, he can repel those spirits, and this is all done without any conscious effort.

"One who can draw and one who can repel… In the spiritual world, opposites have a tendency to move towards each other rather than in the other direction. However, keeping them stabilized when they occupy the same space is usually where the problem presents itself. There is actually a high magic potential for opposites. It's the reason why two mokonas were recreated for dimensional travel."

"I really don't like where you're going with this," Watanuki said, as he gazed uncertainly at his employer.

"You might not like it, but you need to be aware of it. Your meeting with Doumeki was no coincidence."

"I know, I know," Watanuki dismissed, as this song was getting old. "Hitsuzen, right?"

"I don't think you actually grasp the degree of the bond between you and Doumeki."

"I think I grasped it pretty well last night," Watanuki muttered to himself, resting his chin in his hand.

Yuko raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. She only took a long sip out of her cup and then placed it down in that profound way she had with everything.

"What if I told you that Doumeki was created especially for you?"

It was Watanuki's turn to raise an eyebrow. "I'd ask Yuko-san if happy hour started a little earlier today than it usually does." He took her cup and sniffed it just in case. He'd so give her a good scolding if she was drinking before dinner. "Don't you think you're being a little too dramatic, Yuko-san. I mean, that's not how it works--people aren't created; they're born."

Yuko remained silent as she watched her young charge. She would have agreed with him if the perfect example of what she meant wasn't seated right in front of her, giving her a lecture about her word choice.

Watanuki was human, but he had also been created to take the place of Syaoran after he had left. And just as Watanuki's existence had been the result of another's, so too was Doumeki's. The archer was perfectly human, born to a mother and father, memories perfectly intact. One could not find any strange coincidences in his lineage that would tie Doumeki back to Watanuki. Clow had been careful about not leaving such clues behind in order to prevent Fei Wong Reed from finding Watanuki, as Doumeki was in no way protected by the magic that Clow had cast over Watanuki. He was free to the world, with no magic seals or defenses placed upon him, and that was how Clow had wanted it.

The Doumeki lineage was not connected to Clow or any of his lineage in any way. But their family tree was as spiritually impressive as Clow's in that many members of their clan became exorcists, mediums, and clairvoyants, though these spiritual gifts had a tendency to skip generations. It would hibernate in the blood of the person strong enough to carry it, for during that time of supposed dormancy was when the gift evolved and grew even more powerful, and then would be passed onto a body that was equally fit to utilize the power.

Doumeki's mother had been the carrier for her generation, but Doumeki was not the one fated to have that power. He was physically weak, and the gift was actually going to be passed down to the daughter who would have been born after Doumeki.

However, Watanuki's so-called 'birth' was around the corner, and Clow had needed another powerful existence to balance out his descendant's own powers.

He had not wanted to do it, but he had forced Doumeki's mother into labor earlier than expected, a month earlier, and had also forced the gift to be passed onto him, even though Doumeki was not a fit vessel, both physically and spiritually.

The premature birth, as well as other factors, had left Doumeki a weak child, but thankfully, Haruka had been there and had known how to deal with the problem accordingly. For the next few years he dressed Doumeki in girl's clothing as a way to make him stronger, but also to trick the gift into accepting him.

The small disturbance caused by Doumeki's birth in this dimension served as a warning for Watanuki's birth a month later, which given the amount of magic needed to carve an unnatural existence into this world's timeline, had sent ripples through an infinite number of dimensions and had alerted Fei Wong Reed to their plans.

Because Watanuki was being forced into existence, it made him an unstable presence within the human world, so even at the moment of his creation, his existence was already leaning towards the spiritual world.

He was between worlds, and to those in the spirit world, they saw him as a beacon, a way into the physical world. It also didn't help that Watanuki was a descendent of Clow and magic was in his blood. Any being with even an inkling of magical sense was drawn to Watanuki.

Clow understood how much trouble it would cause Watanuki, so he looked to the Doumeki clan, a clan known for their exorcists, as a way to weaken his own descendant's powers. Even when Watanuki was born his powers were weakened considerably because Doumeki simply existed. It would have been much worse for her young charge if he had not been born one of a pair.

"But doesn't it sound much more romantic when I put it like that," Yuko said, and had to restrain the sad smile that wanted to present itself at that moment. Watanuki would never know how much care had gone into his birth and how much Clow had loved him.

"Romantic," Watanuki laughed. "If Doumeki were created for me then you'd think he'd annoy me less. That jerk, you should have heard his ridiculous bento request for tomorrow. He even started repeating items. I think it's because…" Watanuki baulked at what he was about to say, then blushed beet red. He waved his hand away. "Well it's not important. Look you have me going off topic," Watanuki said with a bit of color remaining in his cheeks. "I asked you a simple question and yet again you deflect it with some nonsense and I'm back at square one." Watanuki slammed a hand on the table and some of the tea from Yuko's cup spilled onto the table-cloth. "I'll pay whatever price I need to pay to get my answer, if that's what you need to hear." Watanuki picked up a napkin and started scrubbing at the stain, his eyes nailing themselves to what his hand was doing and avoiding her gaze. "So…please Yuko-san, I would really appreciate a straight answer from you."

"You don't need to put it like that," Yuko said, taking another long sip. "I've been giving you advice this entire time, haven't I?"

"But…" Watanuki dropped the napkin. "But you're not actually being serious. I thought you were joking…or messing around with me. Right?" Watanuki asked hopefully. A part of him felt that the things happening between him and Doumeki, while they were intense and strange, were normal in their own way. He'd come to Yuko to validate that feeling, to put his mind at ease. An adult who had experience in such things would tell him 'it was perfectly normal' or 'don't worry about it.' Watanuki had wanted to hear those words from Yuko, and yet here she was, going on about the magic potential of opposites and things that Watanuki thought should not be in any way involved with him making out with Doumeki.

"Why would I give you worthless advice when you've come to me with a serious dilemma?" the dimensional witch asked, her face as serious as Watanuki had ever seen it.

Watanuki stared at Yuko with wide eyes. "What do you mean _serious dilemma_? I kiss Doumeki and it's suddenly a serious dilemma?! Sure it went on for longer than I'd planned, but that's not the point here and I think you should scratch that last part from the record." At this point Watanuki was past embarrassment. Yuko had freaked him out way too much with her 'serious dilemma' talk for him to worry about that.

"It counts as a serious dilemma when people can be hurt."

Watanuki started forward in his chair. "I-I would never hurt Doumeki! Sure he's an idiot with no manners and his face makes me so mad that I want to punch it every time he walks by, which sort of counts as hurting, but I…" Watanuki pressed a hand to his chest and looked Yuko deeply in the eyes, "I would never really hurt him."

"I know," Yuko replied with a small smile. "People hurt each other whether they want to or not. But that's not what I meant. The fact that you can and will hurt each other is none of my business, as that is between you and Doumeki. No, it becomes my business when others are hurt."

"What do you mean?" Watanuki asked, looking worried.

"_I mean_ that you and Doumeki could pose a physical danger to others. You're not like other humans, Watanuki--I think you and he can both admit this without much trouble--and your interactions can have some…interesting results."

"P-puberty. It's just puberty," Watanuki said defensively, and wrapped his arms around himself. "My body's going through puberty. I can't help certain things."

"That could be the case, too," Yuko said. "It certainly doesn't help, but you have to realize that you and Doumeki are also interacting on a different level, one that can't be easily perceived by the eye. You don't seem to realize that as much as Doumeki affects you, you are also affecting him. He is able to suppress some of your latent powers, but he is only able to do so because you are drawing out more of his."

Watanuki's powers were directly connected to his emotional state. The more conflicted, the more nervous, the more fervent the emotion, the more ghosts he drew towards himself. And the more ghosts he drew towards himself, the stronger Doumeki's exorcist abilities had to become in order to overpower Watanuki's abilities and therefore keep the ghosts at bay.

Doumeki's exorcist powers were also connected to his emotional state. Clow had predicted that the heir of the Doumeki clan and his descendent would cross paths before the destined day. They were tied together by the strings of fate, and it was pulling them in the same direction whether they liked it or not. The heir of the Doumeki clan would take up his role as defender and protect his descendent. But over the past couple of years, Doumeki had become very protective of Watanuki in a way that neither Clow nor she had ever expected.

The sorcerer had not been pleased that he had to depend on another clan to protect a descendent. Clow had pride in his family lineage, so Yuko was not certain how he would have taken it if he had learned that the heir of one of the few rival clans of his family had started…well courting his descendent.

He might have made a joke about it, or he might have sulked for a day before going off to create some new invention. She was not sure. Clow had been such a whimsical head-case.

"So what?" Watanuki said. "How am I putting others in danger if this is just going on between the two of us? There's always been weird vibes between me and Doumeki. What's the difference now?" Ever since they'd met there was something about the archer that he could not quite put his finger on. The fact that he could not put his finger on it had made him irritated and uneasy about Doumeki whenever he came around. Yuko had said they were opposites and that tended to do something to the space around them (whatever that was supposed to mean), but why was it only becoming a problem now?

Yuko leered at him as she could read his mind. "The difference now is that you're doing H things when no one's around."

As she'd said before, Watanuki's powers were directly connected to his emotions. The more ardent the emotion, the stronger and the more unstable his powers grew. And there was possibly no emotion as troublesome for Watanuki as one based from romance. But what was worse was that he was riling Doumeki up along with him and making his exorcist powers unstable.

But while Watanuki's powers were inward-facing and had a habit of bringing misfortune on himself rather the people around him, Doumeki's was outward, and if it grew strong enough, it could manifest itself in the physical world.

"I can only tell you what you need to hear, as anymore would require a price. But what I can tell you is that you're riling Doumeki up and making his powers unstable. Your emotional state and the fact that you two are starting to become physical with each other is affecting both of your powers. It also doesn't help that Doumeki eats your cooking, you have Doumeki's blood in your veins, and you two share an eye. The connection makes it worse."

"W-what the hell are you talking about?!" Watanuki shouted, and gripped his head in alarm. "Worse? What's worse? And who's riling up who?!"

"I'm saying," Yuko said with a sigh, "that when in the future you and Doumeki become intimate," Watanuki made a 'eww' face at the word, "Doumeki's powers might start to manifest itself in the physical world, though luckily he needs a conduit to have this happen."

"Conduit?" Watanuki asked, as that sinking feeling in his stomach that usually foreshadowed trouble was acting up again.

"Think about it," Yuko said off-handedly, "Doumeki exorcises spirits with a bow and arrow, as did Haruka in his time. For Doumeki and his ancestors, the bow-and-arrow has served as a bridge to the spiritual world. But that bridge can go both ways."

"Yuko-san," Watanuki said, his voice starting to shake, "Doumeki…he has a tournament today."

Yuko put down her cup, wondering why her charge was suddenly so nervous. "If you haven't done anything with Doumeki before his tournament, then you have nothing to worry about, so put your mind at ease."

Watanuki stared at Yuko for a whole minute. Then he quietly got up from the table and sprinted for the door like his hair was on fire. He was hoping around in the genkan with one shoe on his foot when Yuko came to stand at the entrance.

"Bring Doumeki back here when you find him."

Watanuki nodded fiercely, hopping out the door with one shoe half-way on. "I will. I'll definitely—" then he stopped and hopped back. "Are we certain something like that could happen? It just doesn't seem likely. If you're playing a prank on me—"

"He could kill someone."

"Okay, I'm going," Watanuki said and nearly fell over himself trying to get out the front door.

* * *

When Watanuki reached Cross High, he was surprised to not see anyone milling around the entrance. The actual school seemed to be deserted, which was not a promising sign that things were okay.

Watanuki ran into an empty classroom, and was about to rightly freak out, when he heard voices and turned in time to see a few students running by the open window. They were heading towards the dojo, and Watanuki, running off pure instinct and fear (a potent combination), jumped out the window and followed after them. There were actually a lot of people in front of the dojo, too many for Watanuki to even imagine getting in through the front entrance.

What the hell was going on? When did all these people get school spirit?

He knew that a lot of students usually came out to these archery competitions because Doumeki was always winning, and, at the end of the day, it was nice to see your school make another school eat dirt-- but this was ridiculous.

Watanuki was about to tap a girl on the shoulder from his class and ask about the current situation when he heard a boy nearby say Doumeki's name. He turned in that direction, was about to inquire what about Doumeki and oh dear god let that horrible bastard be okay, but the din of the crowd was bombarding him with phrases, phrases that were making him even more nervous.

"Wish I could see."

"Upper-classmen prank."

"Sure to be expelled."

"Kaboom!"

Watanuki nearly cried out loud at that last part. Luckily a familiar face in the crowd was able to bring him back from his shock. "Himawari-chan!"

"Watanuki-kun!" She also looked very relieved to see him. "I'm so glad you're here. Doumeki-kun—"

Watanuki flinched upon hearing that name. He was so worried now that his heart felt like it was about to explode.

"I'm not sure what happened," she said, changing her tone as she noticed the stricken expression on his face. She tried to give him a reassuring smile. "Um, but I heard that Doumeki-kun's okay. They said he's in the boys' locker room."

"W-what happened?" Watanuki must have looked pale because she gave him a sympathetic smile.

"I kind of got here after the commotion, so I'm not sure. Sorry, Watanuki-kun. I wasn't much help." She put her hands together in apology and Watanuki waved it off.

"No, no, you were a lot of help. I just arrived but…" Watanuki glanced around them. "I think I have an idea of what happened." He turned back to his friend, "Sorry, I'll properly explain it to you later. That idiot's causing so much trouble today. Ah…I mean, well, I'm causing the trouble too. Ah, _mou_," Watanuki said in frustration. "I have to go, but I'll definitely explain. Definitely."

* * *

Doumeki's team-mates had pointed Watanuki in the direction of the small storage space at the back of the locker rooms, a place that Watanuki was all too familiar with for reasons that he did not want to disclose.

When he walked in, Doumeki was seated on one of the boxes and holding an ice-pack against one cheek.

"What the hell happened to you?!"

Doumeki shrugged. It was the understatement of the year.

Watanuki shut the door behind him and hurried over to the archer. "Are you okay? I don't even know what happened, and someone said something about you being expelled. That can't be true, right?"

Despite all the questions being flung at him, Doumeki continued to silently hold the ice-pack against his face.

"Doumeki?" Watanuki said as he came closer. "Hey—"

"I destroyed it."

Watanuki paused as he was about to take a seat on the box right in front of archer. "Huh?"

"The target. I destroyed it."

Watanuki sat back on the box with a frown. "Please tell me you just won the tournament and that's your annoying Doumeki-way of bragging about it."

"No, I mean I literally destroyed it."

Watanuki sighed and hung his head low. "That's what I thought." He raised his head. "How bad is it?"

Doumeki didn't question him on why he wasn't more shocked, but only continued on. "The target," he said, and Watanuki nodded along, grateful that the damage had been contained to just that.

"The two targets on either side of that target," Doumeki then added, and Watanuki blinked in surprise as he had not expected there to be more.

"A section of the concrete wall behind the three targets."

"What?!" Watanuki shouted in alarm.

"A tree."

WHAT THE HELL?! YOU'RE STILL LISTING STUFF?!" Watanuki panted, panic causing his breathing to go all over the place.

"Some floorboards at the dojo."

"Oh god," Watanuki dropped his head in his hands and prayed that Doumeki was at the end of the list.

"My bow. My glove. And the right sleeve of my keiko-gi."

When Watanuki remained with his head still in his hands, quietly contemplating what was to happen next, Doumeki chose that time to add: "I didn't destroy my arrow."

"BECAUSE IT WAS TOO BUSY DESTROYING EVERYTHING ELSE?!" Watanuki screamed, and didn't care if anyone heard him.

"I got disqualified," Doumeki said, and as small and beady as his eyes were, Watanuki still noticed it when they lowered to his hands.

Watanuki could honestly say that he had never felt bad for Doumeki. In fact he thought the other boy had it too good and therefore deserved no sympathy from the human race. So it was something of a surprise when, at that exact moment, he felt a pinprick of emotion towards the archer--whether it was sympathy or an ensuing heart-attack that had been brought about by years of accumulated shock was yet to be revealed.

He thought it might be a heart attack, or at least some physical trauma, because he was getting up before he could stop himself and sitting down next to Doumeki on the small box.

"Um…there, there," Watanuki said uncertainly, and patted Doumeki on the back. The archer turned to look at him. "I'm not sure what to say to you about being disqualified. I have a strong urge to laugh and tell you it's about damn time you lost a tournament." Watanuki narrowed his eyes in contemplation. "But then I can't proudly say you lost when you hit your target and two others along with it. Instead of being disqualified, I'd think you would have been given some kind of stupid plaque or something. I mean, dear god you destroyed—" Watanuki froze as Doumeki wrapped an arm around him and pulled him to his chest. "D-doumeki! Idiot, cut it out. There's no lock on that door, remember." That hadn't stopped them the last time but whoa that was completely off topic.

"In this situation you're supposed to console me," Doumeki said, and rested his face on his shoulder, like that was only natural.

"Console _you_? Then who's going to console me for getting involved with a super-idiot like you. No thanks." But despite his words, Watanuki rested a hand on the back of Doumeki's head. "And anyway, this is bad. It's the reason why we're in this trouble in the first place."

"Hmm," Doumeki said sleepily.

"Don't 'hmm' me you beady-eyed bastard. Why do you think you messed up the archery hall? It's because of what we…" Watanuki lowered his eyes. "It's because we…kissed in here before your stupid competition."

"So this place is haunted?"

"It has nothing to do with the place!" Watanuki said, and promptly shoved Doumeki's head off his shoulder. "You're such an idiot. I regret kissing you with my entire being and the being of other people too. I blame your archery uniform for my total lapse in sanity this evening," Watanuki muttered to himself as he turned away from Doumeki. He was glad it had been temporarily put out of commission. It was unnatural how cool Doumeki looked in that thing. How was he supposed to react? Not kiss him? He could do that, but that wasn't the point! He was not the one to blame in all of this.

He'd been bringing that idiot Doumeki a bento out of the kindness of his heart (plus he couldn't stick around for his tournament like he had promised because Yuko-san was fussing at him for a tea-party, so he thought a bento might make up for that). But nevermind what he'd just said, he'd been providing a service for the less fortunate, and when he had learned the whereabouts of his charity case, he'd gone to him and entered the locker-room, completely unaware of the trap that lay in wait.

Doumeki sometimes meditated in the storage room before a tournament. Watanuki was of the strong opinion that Doumeki's "meditating" was an excuse to slack off, so he was all too ready to catch the culprit in the act.

Doumeki had opened his eyes once he had walked in, and Watanuki had criticized him for his lack of concentration, to which Doumeki had replied that he would have to be deaf and blind to be able to concentrate when someone like him walked in. Of course that had started up one of their routine fights, and somewhere in the middle of that, Watanuki had handed over the bento with his explanation as to why he couldn't stick around. Of course he added that the only reason he would have shown up to Doumeki's dumb competition was to boo him and cheer for the other team. Then Doumeki had told him that he did not envy the other team if that were the case, and then they'd had another argument, which was not so much an argument as Watanuki shouting something unintelligible and Doumeki covering his ears with his hands.

Watanuki had thought it was good that they'd fallen back into their old routine. It had been kind of awkward this morning when Doumeki had come to his apartment. He'd not been able to look the archer in the face for the night he'd had, and Doumeki had also been more reticent than usual.

The archer had also shown up to his apartment looking a little frazzled: the hair in the back of his head was sticking out a bit, like he'd not slept quite right on it, and he'd also appeared restless.

Watanuki had wanted to ask what was wrong, but then he thought better of it. He'd not had such a great night either. He'd lain awake for the better part of it, staring up at the ceiling and trying to make all the feeling in his chest stop.

It was strange, but Watanuki had never felt so lonely or vulnerable as that night. It was like he'd gotten a taste of something that he had craved for his entire life, and now that it was gone, he ached for its return. It made him wonder what the hell was wrong with him.

Fortunately, night eventually turned into day and Watanuki could preoccupy himself with the menial tasks that came along with it. He and Doumeki had walked to school together, and then they'd gone their separate ways quietly.

After last night, something had changed between them, and it wasn't like they both didn't know it.

Watanuki, with his great powers of self-denial, could not even begin to rationalize what had happened. He wished he could, he wished he could make excuses for himself and his behavior last night, something like 'there was an unknown entity on Doumeki's face and he was only trying to get it for him—for about five minutes…and with his mouth—He'd been trying a different method for shutting Doumeki up; a ghost had possessed him; he'd tripped and his mouth had unfortunately landed on Doumeki's; he had an evil twin…

He'd not been able to concentrate in his first period, but by time his second period rolled around and the distance from Doumeki asserted itself, he didn't feel as restless. By lunch-time he felt okay, but he was still relieved when Himawari-chan had passed on the message to him that Doumeki was practicing for his tournament and couldn't make it for lunch.

He thought Doumeki might be avoiding him because he never missed lunch—the archer could be dying and the he would still use the last of strength to crawl towards the nearest bento. Watanuki did not know how he should feel about being avoided, but he thought it was fine since he was also avoiding Doumeki. Mutual avoidance was necessary in these circumstances. A little time to themselves would allow them to put their feelings in perspective.

Although, as startled and bewildered as he was over last night's proceedings, there was one thing that Watanuki was certain of:

He and Doumeki were most_ definitely_ going out now.

He'd told Doumeki that a 'testing-out phase' would be necessary if they were to become official. But seriously, who was he kidding? He was so attracted to Doumeki that he would have to be absolutely retarded to not accept that things had gotten serious. Even before any of this, things were already past serious between them.

The constant meetings.

The eye.

The blood.

Briefly Watanuki wondered why he and Doumeki had not started going out months ago. Or why he was only now noticing Doumeki's feelings for him.

Geez, and the archer had always been showing up out of nowhere and at absolutely the right moment, like a frickin' stalker.

A really good looking stalker.

But a stalker nonetheless.

Watanuki thought he would have to sit Doumeki down about his gloomy, stalkerish personality—and that really annoying way he ate crackers. He actually had a lot of things to criticize Doumeki about, and he'd really laid into him the moment he walked into that storage room. Once he'd closed the door behind him, Watanuki could almost feel the change, as if it were a tangible thing in his chest. He'd gone through the day feeling relatively calm, but once he'd stepped through that door he felt suddenly anxious and out of breath and annoyed. Terribly annoyed.

Antagonizing Doumeki had made the pressure in his chest abate some, but not like it used to--not for a long time now. It had made Watanuki extra nasty to the archer, and Doumeki had become a little irritated too; and they'd bitten back at each other—Watanuki in his fluctuating tones and Doumeki with his own darkening sarcastic replies— until the tension, slowly mounting ever since they'd found themselves in the same room together, had exploded in one swift and rather telling act.

It wasn't until five minutes later with them kissing and pawing at each other against the door that Watanuki had realized that they were really good at working each other up in other ways, too.

Doumeki had been the one to pull away, mentioning something about a tournament—Watanuki wasn't sure, his concentration had been elsewhere.

But of course, Doumeki still had his tournament, though the archer looked like he was in no state of mind to participate in said tournament. When they'd passed by the basin area, Doumeki had calmly walked up to one of the pipes, turned it on, and then just as calmly proceeded to duck his head under the cold running water.

The cold water, however, had not done its job of calming Doumeki down like he'd expected, because ten minutes later he'd gone onto destroy a good portion of the archery hall and get disqualified.

"Do you think you'll get expelled?" Watanuki asked nervously.

"The coach said it was a freak accident. A structural anomaly. It's not like anyone else in this school has mystical sight like you; all they saw was stuff disintegrating. My arrow didn't necessarily have to be cause."

"How the hell could anyone believe that's an accident?"

Doumeki shrugged. "They don't deal with it on a daily basis. How could they not see it as an accident, or a school prank for that matter. None of my teachers believed I was the type of person to pull a prank, so they let it go."

"Then why'd you get disqualified?"

Doumeki turned to look at him. "They didn't want to tempt fate."

Watanuki swallowed despite himself. "You're lucky they disqualified you. Geez, if you had to go again that would have been a disaster." He took the ice-pack from Doumeki and gently reapplied it to his cheek, noting the discolored skin. "And how'd you get this nasty bruise?"

"Flying debris."

Watanuki shook his head in disbelief at Doumeki's matter-of-fact tone in the face of the crazy crap that was coming out of his mouth. "I'm supposed to take you to Yuko-san's shop. Can you come with me or are the teachers not done with you?"

Doumeki stood up. "I think they wouldn't mind if I left the premises. They don't seem like they know what to do with me."

"I don't even know what to do with you either," Watanuki said, and stood up beside the archer. "Ah, but don't worry," he added quickly when he realized how it would sound to Doumeki. He grabbed the archer by the elbow, pulling him to the door. "I'm sure Yuko-san can fix this. I'm positive she can fix this, so don't you worry your stupid little head. You don't have much brain-cells to begin with, so save them for when I'm not around and can't help you." Watanuki patted Doumeki on the shoulder and smiled at him, feeling that he was getting much better at this consoling business.

He had always known that he would make a good boyfriend.


	6. Memories

"So…what would happen if we did more than kiss?"

At the sound of Doumeki's question, Watanuki cleared his throat and continued to treat the scratches on the archer's wrists. Yuuko had just finished cuing Doumeki into what she believed was happening to him, and the formidable silence that followed her explanation, had been interrupted by an even more formidable foe—

Doumeki's bluntness.

Yuuko raised a thin eyebrow at the archer, and then turned to Watanuki. "You certainly have your ways, don't you?"

"Shut up," Watanuki muttered, his eyes glued to Doumeki's wrist.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not certain what would happen," Yuuko said, turning back to Doumeki, who had been quietly awaiting an answer. "I suppose you two would have to figure that out yourselves; the only thing I ask is that you figure it out far away from the shop."

"Yuuko-san!" Watanuki shouted, dropping the cotton-balls and bandages in his hands. "This is not funny. He could kill me." Watanuki gripped his head in full-out panic-mode. "Oh god, he could actually kill me. And when we're doing _that _of all things. That's just not normal. There's absolutely nothing about this situation that's normal." Watanuki grabbed Doumeki by the front of his shirt. "Why would you want to do that to me? Why are you such a freak?!"

"The pot calling the kettle—"

"I was tricked dammit!" Watanuki cried, shaking Doumeki now. "Just because you're handsome and cool, and I was tricked. Be less cool so I don't fall for you, dammit!"

"Well, I'll excuse myself then," Yuuko said, seeing as how her young charge was blurting out things that she expected he would prefer she not hear.

"Where the hell are you going?" Watanuki practically screamed at his employer, and the woman, despite herself, sat back down like a chastised school girl. "You have to fix this. Doumeki might be an unholy freak, but I'm not letting that get between us. This relationship is going to work if I have to kill him and everyone in this shop to make it happen."

"Glad we're not over-reacting," Doumeki said.

"Hey, if you have a solution for the freak problem then I'm all ears, but if you're only going to sit there and make dumb sarcastic remarks then I'm going to throw you through the screen."

Doumeki turned his head, put a finger in one ear—"If I'm a freak, then you're the freak-magnet."

It was at this time that Maru and Moro, as well as their ring-leader Mokona, chose to burst through the screen, the shop's twins circling Watanuki and singing in a cheery voice: "Freak-magnet, freak-magnet. Watanuki is a freak magnet," while Mokona did the chorus for "Tatakae! Casshern" because it was one of Yuuko's favorites and honestly he thought it was appropriate for all platitudes.

"I AM NOT A FREAK MAGNET!"

"Actually," Yuuko started, "it's quite a suitable title, considering the people that are attracted to you and the remarkable powers they possess. You certainly can't label them as normal, now can you?

Watanuki stopped trying to catch Mokona and throw him out the way he came—"Tatakae! Casshern" and all, and turned to look at his employer in disbelief.

"There's Himawari-chan and, not to put it lightly, her killer bad luck," Yuuko said, bending her thumb as she listed it off.

"What about Himawari-chan?" Watanuki asked, not liking how she readying the other four fingers on her hand. "Himawari-chan is not a freak! She is a beautiful flower and you will take that back!"

"There's the Zashiki-warashi and her ability to purify corrupt spaces," she continued, another finger down for the count.

"Let's not forget Doumeki!" Mokona piped up. "I'm on your side, so don't forget me when you break out the good shochu."

"Thanks," Doumeki said to Mokona, and poured him some alcohol.

"Hold on a minute here," Watanuki interrupted, hands in front of him.

"Yes, Doumeki and his exorcist powers," Yuuko said to Mokona, bending another finger. "We can't forget about Doumeki--the current favorite."

"Kohane-chan. Kohane-chan," Maru and Moro sing-songed.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Watanuki yelled.

"Kohane is a former medium. She will grow up into a fine woman one day," Yuuko said, bending another finger. "And certainly, she would never be able to forget the kind boy who brought her out of her shell all those years ago."

"You people make me sick. All of you," Watanuki said as he eyed the lot of them. "And Doumeki, that better not be alcohol you're drinking or I swear to god--"

"The pipe-fox," Doumeki added as he sipped an unknown liquid aka alcohol. "He's been up Watanuki's shirt more than I have."

"You have never been—what the hell?!"Watanuki said, stopping himself mid-sentence and kicking Doumeki in the side.

"Oh, we can't leave out the non-human contingent," Yuuko said, in full agreement with Doumeki.

"The pipe-fox and his destructive fox-fire!"

"The oden shop-owner's son and his delicious oden," Doumeki added as he rubbed his side.

Watanuki glared at Yuuko and Doumeki. "I'm glad you guys are having so much fun at my expense."

"I'll have to use my other hand to count now," Yuuko said, not paying her charge any mind. "Watanuki has such a huge fan-club. I'm so jealous~"

"Jealousy, jealousy," Maru and Moro repeated.

Watanuki crossed his arms over his chest. "Just for clarification, I hate everyone in this room right now."

"And last but not least," Yuuko said, about to make Watanuki hate them even more, "Haruka-san!"

Doumeki spat out a mouthful of sake.

"What?! No, hey, that's not even funny. That's Doumeki's grandfather."

"Don't think we don't know about your little dream-dates with Haruka-san," Yuuko said, nudging him with a finger. "You're quite the sly fox, going after the egg and the hen."

"I'm not going after anyone," Watanuki said, his ears beet red now. "Haruka-san and I…we have a lot in common. We're…Geez, why am I even explaining this to you people? And what the hell, they look exactly alike."

Doumeki turned to look at him, and Watanuki gave him a strained smile. "Uhh…we got off topic again. Yuuko-san, can't you do anything about Doumeki, or are you going to make me go in circles until I pass out."

"I'm not certain of what to do with you two," Yuuko said, falling back into serious mode. She was so bipolar sometimes. "I suppose I could give Doumeki some seals, but I would advise against it since restraining his exorcist powers would cause your own to become stronger. And you'll get a lot more night attacks if that's the case."

"Night attacks?" Doumeki asked, and gave him a questioning look that Watanuki promptly avoided.

"If it can stop him from doing a repeat of this afternoon then that's fine. I'm a light sleeper, anyway. I'll get used to it again."

"What do you mean 'night attacks'?" Doumeki asked, not willing to drop the subject.

"It's nothing," Watanuki said, ignoring Doumeki for a second time and turning back to Yuuko. "So what do I have to give you for these seals? Not an arm and a leg, I hope."

"Not exactly," Yuuko said, but bit her tongue as she noticed the pissed look on Doumeki's face. He was not a usually expressive person, so when an expression did make its way on his face, it was hard not to miss.

"So what do I have to give you?" Watanuki asked again, completely unaware of what was happening right next to him. He turned to look at Doumeki and then back at Yuuko. "What?"

"Can you give us a minute?" Doumeki said to the dimensional witch, and Yuuko nodded, more than willing to give her clueless charge and his boyfriend the space they needed to argue, as there was undoubtedly going to be an argument in the next minute or so.

"What's wrong?" Watanuki asked when Yuuko slid the screenbehind her. He leaned into Doumeki, inspecting the scratches on the side of his chin. "Does it hurt? I'll put something on it if it does."

"You're doing it again," Doumeki said, his eyes trained forward. "You're taking all the burden on yourself. I thought we had an understanding about this."

Watanuki squeezed a dollop of topical ointment onto his finger. "I'm not taking all the burden onto myself," he said as he tilted Doumeki's head and gently applied the ointment to his scratches. "But didn't you listen to what Yuuko-san said. Sure you were the one to wreck the dojo, but it was initially my fault. I'm the cause of this, so it's only reasonable that I'm the one to pay for it." Watanuki leaned into him again, blowing gently on the scratches, and Doumeki tried to nudge him away, as if embarrassed by what he was doing.

"You can say what you want, I'm not letting you pay for this by yourself."

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Watanuki asked, and tried to put a band-aid on his face, but Doumeki grabbed his hand, lowering it to the floor.

"I thought we agreed to take on the burden together."

"Yeah, but…" Watanuki glanced down at the hand on top of his. "Ugh, you're so annoying. What the hell do you want from me? I'm trying to fix everything. For you. For us. Why won't you let me just…fix it?"

"I didn't ask you to," Doumeki said, letting go of his hand.

"You don't have to," Watanuki replied, and tried to get Doumeki to look at him, but the archer turned his head. "If the problem is something I created with my actions then I'll take full responsibility."

"No," Doumeki said, and Watanuki stopped, completely thrown off by such a simple, and yet at the same time, powerful response. Doumeki turned to face him.

"No."

Watanuki narrowed his eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," Doumeki said. "You have no idea how to compromise so I'm compromising for you."

Watanuki leaned back from Doumeki, staring at him warily. "A-are you trying to intimidate me into letting you do this? You might be a little bigger, but don't think I can't take you." Watanuki stood up and looked down at Doumeki. "Just because we're going out now doesn't mean we're friends either. You're still my mortal nemesis." He might make-out with his mortal nemesis on occasion, but that didn't stop them from being enemies. "I have no problem getting into an actual fight with you. Actually, I've always wanted it to happen someday since you really bug me."

Doumeki stood up to his full height, looked down at Watanuki, and then turned to walk out.

"Haa!" Watanuki shouted at Doumeki's back, feeling victory in his grasp. He pointed a finger at the archer. "That's right, run away with your tail between your legs. But then again, I wouldn't want to fight me either. You're lucky I'm letting you off the hook so easily."

"I'm not running away," Doumeki said. "I'll see you outside."

The screen door slid crisply shut and Watanuki blinked at the space where Doumeki had been standing not too long ago.

It had never really dawned on him that it wasn't a good idea to speak to Doumeki like he did.

He knew how to handle the other boys in his class--knew that since he came off as a bit girly and melodramatic, other boys didn't know how to talk to him and, as a result, left him to his own devices. He never pushed it with anyone of them either. He was always polite and generally tried to stay out of their way.

However, the same rules that he used to regulate his interaction with the other males in his class, he never used with Doumeki.

He was always calling Doumeki names and being very physical with him—he'd grab him by the front of his shirt, get in his face on a daily basis, and in general do everything that would have made any other guy want to kick his ass.

When they'd started to get acquainted, he was sure Doumeki had thought about it a few times—about actually getting into a fight with him. He wouldn't blame Doumeki either. He was always baiting him.

Which brought him back to his first thought--it had never been a smart idea on his part to speak to Doumeki like he did. He noticed how the other boys treated Doumeki; they generally stayed out of his way. Not that they had anything to fear; Doumeki was not the bullying type. He was actually the opposite, and had always come to his rescue when he needed it. But the other boys in class didn't know that. To them, Doumeki was intimidating in his silent, no expression way, and hard to approach. It was why votes were always passed so quickly in his class. As their class representative, nobody wanted to antagonize the boy who could hit a target from 30 meters away.

In hindsight Watanuki felt he would have done himself a favor to take a cue from Doumeki's classmates, especially since Doumeki, on top of being able to hit a target 30 meters away, could now make it explode on contact.

* * *

"I want to see a clean fight," Mokona said between them. He was wearing tiny, white boxing gloves and a white head-band that said "#1 in Japan". Yuuko was also wearing a white head-band, except hers said "#1 in every dimension of Japan".

Watanuki wondered why he even told these two anything anymore, especially when this was one of their more normal responses. He also wondered where in the world Mokona had gotten those tiny,white boxing gloves.

"Fight!" Mokona bounced away as if he very much expected Doumeki and him to instantly start battling it out. When no one moved, both boys staring at each other across the space that separated them, Watanuki sighed and slumped over.

"Are you seriously considering fighting me over something so stupid?" he said. "Don't you think it's more reasonable for one of us to deal with Yuuko-san? My way would give her less people to swindle."

"A five point deduction for bringing personal matters into this," Yuuko said on the veranda.

"This is all about personal matters!" Watanuki screamed. "And what the hell is Mokona drawing around us?" Watanuki watched as the black, manjuu-bun like creature circled Doumeki and him with white chalk.

"The circle of death," Yuuko replied.

Watanuki stared at his employer.

Of course it was the circle of death. How could it be anything _but_ the circle of death?

"Get out of here!" Watanuki screamed, throwing Mokona at Yuuko, chalk and all. "I'm trying to reason with this idiot and you two are making this really difficult."

"You're the one who's making it difficult," Doumeki said.

"And again," Watanuki huffed, "you're making a big deal out of nothing."

Mokona jumped down from the veranda and resumed drawing the circle of death, as it seemed there would still be a need for it.

"Then that settles it," Doumeki said, and took a step towards him.

Watanuki took a step back. "Settles what? What's been settled?"

Doumeki dropped his black button-up gakuran outside the circle, rolled up the sleeves of the white shirt underneath, and positioned himself in a grapple stance, two hands out in the front, one raised higher than the other.

"Oh, does Doumeki know Judo?" Yuuko asked.

"I'm a three-dan black belt," Doumeki said.

"Oh, so you're up there. Well, good luck, Watanuki."

"Don't sound like that when you tell me 'good luck'!" Watanuki shouted. When he saw Doumeki moving forward he took another step back. "You bastard, I won't be so easy to throw. Don't get any ideas."

Doumeki's hand suddenly shot forward with the intention to grab him by the front of his shirt, but Watanuki jumped back, lost his footing as soon as he did, and backpeddled the rest of way until he fell on his ass. Before Doumeki could even take another step forward, Watanuki scrambled past him to the other side of the circle. He was freakishly fast for someone moving on his hands.

Yuuko smirked at the unfolding scenario. "Doumeki might be a three-dan in Judo, but our very own Watanuki is a four-dan in evasion tactics and all out weird movements. Even ghosts have a hard time holding onto him. Doumeki might be defeated by the sheer weirdness that is Watanuki's pace."

"King of weird movements~" Maru singsonged.

"Reigning King~" Moro repeated.

Fortunately for everyone's ears Watanuki was too busy flailing and dodging to shout at them. He ducked Doumeki's hand, ducked it again, and then bent completely backwards to avoid the sweeping arc of his arm. Almost immediately Watanuki righted himself, pushing up with his feet from the ground and flipping over a little clumsily so he was no longer in that awkward crab-walk position.

Doumeki stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"Flexible isn't he?" Yuuko said, clapping her hands together like a child who had found a new toy. "I think he should be a circus freak when he grows up."

As if that should be something to be proud of, Watanuki held his chin in his hand haughtily and turned to Doumeki with an accomplished look on his face. "Heh. Do you finally see the difference between us, peasant? If you do, then bow to your great Watanuki-sama and I might forget this sad little revolt of yours."

Doumeki stared at his Watanuki-sama for a moment before grabbing him by the front of his shirt, hooking his arm around Watanuki's upper arm, and flipping him over his shoulder as he turned his body into the motion of it.

"Ippon," Doumeki said, calling his win. He picked up his gakuran and started to put it on.

"What the hell was that?" Watanuki screamed, rolling around on the ground in anger and indignation. "I want a rematch. It can't end with evil triumphing like this. I want a rematch!"

"An ippon is a one-throw win. There is no rematch after ippon," Doumeki explained, as if it were not up to him. He put out his hand to help him up. "Don't be a sore loser."

"Whatever," Watanuki said, slapping his hand away. "This is stupid. I would have let you pay half for those seals if you had asked me nicely."

"No you wouldn't have," Doumeki said. He'd argued with him, tried to intimidate him, and then had to throw him across the yard for the spectacles-wearing boy to even think about letting him pay half for seals that, for all intents and purposes, were going to be his. Stubborn didn't even begin to describe Watanuki's personality.

Stubborn and unceasingly selfless.

"Geez you jerk, are you going to help me up or not?" Watanuki said, waving a hand at him.

Doumeki stared down at Watanuki.

Bossy, too. Unbelievably bossy.

* * *

Yuuko swept into the room with a chalice-like censer, Maru and Moro following in closely behind with the same type of censers and setting them down, one behind Watanuki and the other behind Doumeki. Yuuko placed her censer behind her as she sat down, as well as several slips of rice paper.

"This new incense is really strong," Watanuki said, putting a hand over his nose. The smoke rising from the censers behind each of them was becoming thick and covering the room in a dark grayish smoke. It made it hard to make out the borders of the room.

"The incense is necessary," Yuuko said, drawing on her pipe and blowing the smoke right in Watanuki's face, which he knew was altogether not necessary.

"Cut it out," Watanuki coughed, trying to wave it all away.

"So I take it you have both decided to pay," Yuuko said, ignoring her charge's protests. She turned to look at Doumeki who simply nodded.

Yuuko, satisfied that the children had forged an understanding between them, nodded to Doumeki in turn and then put a hand out to Watanuki, ready to get down to business.

"The second button on your school uniform," she said.

Watanuki stared at her hand. "What?"

"I also need the second button on your uniform," Yuuko said to Doumeki.

The boy looked down at his gakuran. His hand hesitated over the item asked for. Then, as if cross over the fact that he would never have the chance to give it to the person it had been promised to, Doumeki ripped out the button from his uniform coat and handed it over to Yuuko quietly.

"But that's supposed to be _my_ button in another year," Watanuki grumbled, mad and not caring to hide it like Doumeki.

It was tradition for a boy to give the person he liked the second button on his uniform on the last day of high school.

All the emotions of those three years—the heart-ache, the happiness, the confusion —all of it was said to be contained in that one small button because of its proximity to the heart.

To give the button away to someone meant to confess your love to them. It meant that for the three years of high school you had been thinking about them. That all the emotions contained within that button were for them, had been caused by them, and needed to be returned.

To give the button away was considered serious business for Watanuki, who had always been a hopeless romantic and felt that outward displays of affection were important to any relationship.

It was supposed to be his button.

He wanted that damn button.

"No, I don't consent to this," Watanuki said, and actually snatched the button away from Yuuko. "This is past ridiculous. Do you have any idea what I had to go through to get this button? This bastard has been annoying me for two years now. He's not made it easy. And he still has another year left."

"If you want the seals," said Yuuko, sighing, "then you'll have to hand them both over."

Watanuki pressed a protective hand over his chest and his own button.

All his emotions of the past two years were contained in this button—the aversion he felt towards Doumeki when they first met, the jealousy and competitiveness, the hurt he felt when Doumeki had exorcised the lady in the park, and then feeling so helplessly touched by his actions and crying over it in front of Yuuko. The begrudging feelings of friendship that sprung up as a result, and the protectiveness he felt when Doumeki lost his eye in place of him. It was all in here, a silent witness, and he wanted to give it to Doumeki when they finished high school.

"I don't want to!" Watanuki said, on the verge of throwing a temper tantrum. Grown-up time was very much over. "This isn't fair. You have to take something else. If I pay you myself then the price should be different, right?"

Doumeki narrowed his eyes at Watanuki, who was already going back on their deal, and grabbed him by the front of the shirt, ready to snap the button off his uniform.

"Let go, asshole. I'm not giving her an important part of my youth, and neither are you. I'll dump you in a heartbeat if you give that damn button to anyone but me."

Doumeki's grip on his shirt lessoned. "I can't exactly give her anything when you're still clutching onto it."

"And that's how it's going to stay," Watanuki said, his mind made up. "So ask me for something else because these aren't for sale," he said, and pocketed Doumeki's button with thoughts of mending it back onto his gakuran when they left the shop.

Yuuko silently stared at Watanuki with hidden wonder, not because of the absolutely stupid and inefficient way he was going about dealing with what should be a simple payment transaction, but because he was as stubborn as a mule, and if Doumeki wasn't careful, Watanuki would rule over him with an iron-fist for the rest of his life. Watanuki might take after Clow in looks, but personality-wise he was no lamb. Too bad there were no lambs in this room for him to boss around either.

"If I'm only taking payment from you then expect it to be quite a price," Yuuko warned.

"Like what?"

"Your actual memories of high school," Yuuko said.

"WHAT?! What the hell are these seals made of?"

"Then you understand why it would be best for the two of you to pay the price instead of one. With both of you the emotions contained within the buttons are strong enough so they can create a very close similitude of a memory. It would be enough to make the seals. With only one of you the genuine article would be needed."

"But I can't give you those memories," Watanuki said in a tiny voice.

"Then hand them over," Doumeki said, and ripped the button from his uniform. Watanuki opened his mouth to protest, but he had nothing to say to stop Doumeki and could only watch helplessly as he took back his own button and handed them both to the dimensional witch.

"What are you going to do with them?" Watanuki asked, watching sullenly as Yuuko closed the buttons into her palm. He blinked in surprise as black wisps seeped from the confines of her fist and mixed into the gray smoke. When Yuuko opened her hands the buttons were gone.

"A strong bond is usually at the heart of every seal—the need to protect oneself, the need to protect someone…" Yuuko picked up a slip of rice paper behind her and dark smoke began to curl around it. Suddenly Watanuki heard scribbling as the dark smoke transported itself on the paper into archaic Japanese.

"The bonds between people are very effective at containing power. I used the second button on your uniforms because memories…"

Yuuko handed the slip of paper to Watanuki with a mysterious smile, "…Memories are the strongest bonds one can form."

For a moment Watanuki felt an immense gap between him and Yuuko. He stared at the dimensional witch as if he were seeing her for the first time. "Yuuko-san?"

"Help Doumeki put these on," Yuuko said, pointing to the rest of the seals on the floor. "I didn't place the seals directly onto his body because they're not permanent. You will want the option of taking them off if the ghosts become too much for you to handle."

"Then where should I put them?" Watanuki asked, returning to the present matter. He had no idea why he'd blanked out like that.

"Doumeki's power stems from his core. And in archery, he uses his arms and back to draw the bow and release it. It would do you good to place them in areas where you can interrupt the chi flow that happens during that process." She stood up from the mat and slid the screen open. "I'm sure you two would like some privacy for this." A leer was already forming on her face, and it was as if nothing had ever changed. "Hopefully my precious shop can hold up if you excite Doumeki again."

"Get out of here," Watanuki said and threw a shoe at his employer, who dodged it with unnatural squiggly motions. He watched her slide the screen door close, the purple of one iris the last thing he saw before she shut the door behind her.

"Is something wrong?" Doumeki asked, and took off gakuran.

"I don't think so…" Watanuki said, still staring at the closed door. He listened for Yuuko's footsteps to drop off. "Nothing's wrong, but Yuuko-san feels so…distant lately."

"Hasn't she always been?" Doumeki said as he unbuttoned his white under-shirt. "But then again, I'm not close to her like you are."

"No, it's…" Watanuki shook his head and sighed. "I guess I'm being oversensitive. It's just that—" He turned his gaze away from the door to Doumeki and stopped. "You could have given me a warning," he said as he stared at Doumeki without his shirt. He hitched his glasses up on his nose and squinted.

"For what? We change in the locker-room right next to each other every day. You shower next to me."

"That's different," Watanuki said, defending his craziness. "I keep my eyes to myself. Well…sometimes it can't be helped because you'll walk into my line of sight or something, but it's still different." Sometimes he took a peek but that had mostly been for comparison purposes, which was completely harmless and should not count.

"Put those on for me," Doumeki said, pointing to the seals. He had caught Watanuki staring/glaring at him in the shower a couple of times; had never said anything because Watanuki was complicated and defensive; would never say anything because that would make him a big hypocrite for reasons that should be obvious.

"Don't boss me around," Watanuki muttered and slapped one of the seals on Doumeki's shoulders. Then he patted it lightly in apology as slapping on seals didn't seem like the best way to go about fixing Doumeki. "Hey, do you feel any different?"

Doumeki shrugged.

"I'm glad your health is worth a shrug to you." Watanuki slapped a seal on the other shoulder. "How do you feel now?"

"Hungry."

"I swear to god," Watanuki hissed, and walked around to Doumeki's back. He placed the rest of the seals across the width of Doumeki's shoulders and down his arms. They went on easily enough.

For some reason, when he was done, Watanuki found himself peeling up one end of a seal on the back of Doumeki's upper arm, but an inquisitive 'hm?' from Doumeki made him quickly smooth it back down into place.

"They're not uncomfortable?" Watanuki asked, feeling oddly restless now that the seals were in place. He thought they were supposed to help with that.

"A little," Doumeki conceded. He rolled one of his shoulders as if it felt stiff and then grabbed his shirt to put it on. He caught Watanuki's gaze when he slipped on his shirt. "It should be fine."

"We'll see," Watanuki said, and stood up to go tell Yuuko they were leaving.


	7. Seals

Normalcy.

It was a goal Watanuki had been working towards ever since he could tie his own shoes. It was the main reason he had started working at Yuuko's shop. Over the years, his priorities might have changed a bit, but that didn't mean he had completely forgotten about his need to be normal.

Watanuki was tired of the supernatural.

He had had as much of the supernatural as he could take. He enjoyed helping others and felt that that could be his life calling. His ability to see ghosts did not feel like such a curse when he could use it to aid the people that came to the shop. But Watanuki was not confusd. He knew what he wanted, and more than anything, Watanuki wanted a normal life. He wanted friends; he wanted to study for school; he wanted to experience all the ups and downs of his teenage years without the ups and downs of ghost attacks.

He wanted a normal life. But more than anything, he wanted a normal romance.

Watanuki stared at Doumeki as the archer picked up a stack of books and walked to the other side of his grandfather's storage room.

Where the hell had he gone wrong?

Now going out with Doumeki in itself wasn't terribly normal-they were both guys, and they had an abnormal propensity to get on each other's nerves. However, it was still a relationship between two people who felt attracted to each other and were trying to make it work. That sounded pretty normal to him. Where it veered completely off course for Watanuki was the fact that kissing Doumeki was dangerous to him-to other people, to their surroundings-you name it.

They could blow up the planet with one kiss for all he knew, and that was scary. So scary that it was the reason why Watanuki was seated against the far wall-far, far away from Doumeki. He had resigned himself to the fact that they might not be able to get any closer than this; that kissing and hugging and being all lovey-dovey was not in Watanuki's romantic forecast.

Watanuki wanted to tell himself that it wasn't all that important. Being all lovey-dovey was stupid anyway, and who would want to swoon over a dumbass like Doumeki.

Except that _he _wanted to swoon over dumbass Doumeki. He wanted to throw himself into his arms and kiss his stupid face and act like a love-sick moron.

Watanuki was naturally an affectionate person. It was in his nature to swoon and gush and do multiple back flips for his beloved. He would even go so far as to say it was in his genetic make-up. So it shouldn't have been all that surprising that after he'd gotten over the initial shock of liking Doumeki, his inner romantic was dying to be let out.

Doumeki might be an ass, but he was_ his_ ass now, and for Watanuki that meant treating the archer like a princess. That meant roses, tiny heart-shaped cakes, long-winded love poetry, hand holding, and kisses. Lots and lots of kisses. But Watanuki had no idea how the latter half of his list was going to happen when they couldn't even touch each other without Doumeki blowing something up in the process. It was really kind of depressing.

Sure, Yuuko-san had given Doumeki seals, but who knew how safe those things were. Since they'd left Yuuko's, Watanuki was too freaked out to even touch the archer and Doumeki looked similarly on edge in his company.

Watanuki had thought it would be a good idea to go to Doumeki's storage shed and do research, but if he'd known it was going to be this uncomfortable, he would have just gone home.

"I must have done something horrible in a past life," Watanuki cried in his hands, not even trying to lower his voice.

"Here," Doumeki said, dropping a huge book at his feet. "I think this one talks about spiritual compatibility. Maybe this can tell us something." The archer turned to go back to his intimidating pile of books on the other side of the room, but Watanuki grabbed Doumeki by the wrist, stopping him.

Realizing what he had done, Watanuki let go of Doumeki just as quickly as he had latched on. He put his hands in his lap and sighed.

Doumeki crouched in front of him. "What?"

"Why're you ignoring me?" Watanuki asked. "I hate this too, but we can't let it defeat us."

"I'm not ignoring you," Doumeki said, and Watanuki knew enough about the archer to believe him. Doumeki was a very straight-forward person, and if he said he wasn't doing something, he meant it.

"Then what is it?"

Doumeki rubbed at his forearm where one of the seals had been placed. "I feel strange whenever I look at you…though I've always felt strange whenever I look at you. I think it's because your strangeness starts leaking onto other people after a while."

"Strange how?" Watanuki asked, ignoring Doumeki's attempts to rile him up (the annoying bastard). "You mean restless? Like you want to take off the seals?"

Doumeki nodded. "Though it's more than that. They warm up when I look at you. It's uncomfortable."

Doumeki was sweating a bit.

"Do you want to take them off?" Watanuki found himself asking before he could stop himself. It was obvious that they couldn't take them off, but it didn't stop Watanuki from wanting them off nonetheless.

"They're bothering you?" Doumeki asked, still watching him carefully.

"Only a little." Watanuki fiddled with his hands. "I mean, I feel different around you. Not that different, but enough to where I can notice it." He touched Doumeki's forearm, closing his fingers around it gently. "We could peel off one or two of the seals. It shouldn't do anything, and Yuuko-san never said we couldn't."

"Do you really want to do that?" Doumeki asked, and took his hand. "You of all people should know that Yuuko-san never shows her clients the entire picture."

Watanuki pulled his hand away. "What the hell's that supposed to mean? You don't think Yuuko-san would warn us properly."

"It's the client's responsibility to restrain himself from dangerous behavior," Doumeki said, "not hers."

Watanuki bristled. "What's wrong with you? You sound like you don't trust her."

"The only way her clients learn is when she doesn't hold their hand. I think what Yuuko-san does is in the best interests of the people who come to her shop."

Watanuki gave Doumeki a wary look. "Even though you say that, you don't sound like you entirely trust her…"

Doumeki looked him directly in the eyes. "That's because I don't. You're attached to her more than anyone else, and that means that any decision she makes will affect your life in ways that no one can predict…that I can't predict." Doumeki stood up and walked back to his books. "I think Yuuko-san is a good person, but I don't necessarily have to trust her with you."

* * *

Watanuki unlocked his front door and left it open so Doumeki could follow him inside his apartment.

To say that today had been a tense day was an understatement. After Doumeki had dropped that figurative bomb on him, the archer had gone back to research mode without another word, leaving Watanuki to stare into space and wonder why he'd never picked up on these feelings Doumeki had for Yuuko-san.

Doumeki was always so hard to figure out. The expression he wore outside (or lack thereof) always concealed the archer's thoughts. Watanuki didn't think Doumeki did it on purpose, but the archer certainly didn't care to share his feelings when he didn't have to. Watanuki thought that Doumeki might want to work on that. The bespectacled boy also recognized that he would have to work on being able to spot when something was bothering Doumeki, because the archer certainly wasn't going to come out and say anything.

"I'm helping myself to your fridge," Doumeki said as he walked past him and entered his kitchen.

"Of course you are," Watanuki replied, and dropped his satchel on the floor. He had no idea how Doumeki could still eat after the late dinner they'd had. Then again, he'd been so preoccupied with marveling over the wonders of Doumeki's brain that he'd forgotten about the wonders of his stomach.

"Why do you have so many leftovers?" Doumeki asked as he wandered over with a bowl of cold shrimp.

"That's because I stopped cooking for myself and started factoring you in," Watanuki said, plopping down on his carpet.

Doumeki sat down in front of him. "Can you factor in some kebabs next time?"

Watanuki narrowed his eyes at Doumeki. "I'm starting to think you're only going out with me for the food."

"I didn't need to go out with you to get you to make me food," Doumeki said, and emptied the bowl of shrimp in his mouth.

Watanuki closed his eyes and the mother of all veins popped out on his forehead. "I know you're only being factual, but it still pisses me off when you put it like that. Can't you learn how to talk to people?"

"Kebabs."

"_Stop talking about kebabs and listen to me,"_ Watanuki hissed, grabbing Doumeki by the front of his shirt. He instantly deflated as he realized he was getting nowhere with this and let Doumeki go with a wave of the hand. "Nevermind," he said, and crawled over to the chester drawers in the corner of his room. "I'm too tired to get into anything with you tonight, so when you're done eating, let yourself out."

There was a pause on Doumeki's end before the archer said in his most even tone, "I thought I was staying over."

Watanuki turned around to face Doumeki. "You thought what now?"

"You're defenseless, right?"

Watanuki closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. "And again, when you put it like that, it just pisses me off."

"Why don't you want me to stay?" Doumeki asked, as if it weren't obvious.

"Are you stupid? We can't just spend the night together." Watanuki lowered his voice to a whisper, "things could happen…"

Doumeki raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't jump me in my sleep and that won't be a problem."

"Who would want to jump you?"

Doumeki took his finger out of his ear. "It's not like anything can happen if we don't want it to."

"I-I guess," Watanuki agreed. He then shook his head and pushed Doumeki in the shoulder. "Yes it can. Shut up and get out of here."

"Why are you so anxious for me to leave?" Doumeki asked, watching him closely, golden eyes boring into his face. "Do you not want me to see what will happen tonight?"

Watanuki grabbed a clean t-shirt and sweats from the bottom of his chester drawers. He stomped over to his bathroom and slid the door shut behind him, calling out at the same time: "You'd better be gone by the time I finish here."

No response of consent followed, but Watanuki didn't care. He turned on the shower and stepped under it, letting the water run over his heated face and neck.

Doumeki could piss him off so badly sometimes, mostly because he was right about a lot of things.

It was true Watanuki didn't want Doumeki to stay over because he was worried something might happen between them, but he also didn't want Doumeki to be there when the attacks started. Doumeki had undoubtedly picked up on that and was now stubbornly refusing to leave. Watanuki recognized that his ordering Doumeki to get out of his apartment was not the best way to handle the situation. As a couple he should try to depend on Doumeki more, but Watanuki still had a problem with letting other people in, especially when it meant showing them his vulnerable side.

He just couldn't do it. Even though he knew it was stupid to not ask for help, he just couldn't do it.

Watanuki switched off the shower and dressed for bed. He wasn't going to get any sleep tonight, but tomorrow was Saturday, so maybe he could sleep in a little. He'd go to Yuuko's at nine and talk to her about the seals—get this whole mess cleared up. He doubted Yuuko-san would purposefully withhold important information. Doumeki just didn't know the woman like he did, and the fact that Yuuko-san was always ripping Doumeki off of family heirlooms didn't help, he was sure.

Watanuki slid the door open and stepped out of his bathroom. Tonight he had been pretty unfair to Doumeki, even though the archer was only trying to help. Maybe he'd bake him a cake as an apology. The archer was pretty fond of chocolate. A chocolate strawberry cake. He didn't have any strawberries though. He'd have to wake up earlier than nine and go to the supermarket. But tomorrow they were having a sale on oranges. Maybe he should—

Watanuki stopped mid-thought as he found his futon rolled out with a suspicious looking lump under the covers. Watanuki kicked at the lump, hoping—praying it was a ghost.

"I'm trying to sleep," Doumeki said, his voice muffled by the covers over his head.

Watanuki was about to apologize, but then he remembered that Doumeki was in his apartment, sleeping in his bed, and telling him in so many words not to bother him while he did so.

Watanuki pulled his covers off Doumeki in one yank. "Who the hell gave you permission to use my futon?"

Doumeki turned his head. "You said at the shop you wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight. I thought you wouldn't be using your futon."

Watanuki stared at Doumeki in outright disbelief. "That doesn't mean I'm not going to try to get in some sleep, you freak of nature!"

Doumeki rolled over on his side, tucking Watanuki's pillow under his neck. "I'm not stopping you."

"Yes, you are." Watanuki hunkered down behind Doumeki. "I can't sleep in the same futon with you. My god, not even married couples do that."

"Can you keep it down?" Doumeki asked. "The neighbors are trying to sleep."

"Who the hell says that to the person whose bed they're sleeping in!" Watanuki shouted, not giving a crap about the neighbors.

"Are you using this?" Doumeki asked, pulling at the sheets.

Watanuki pulled back with equal if greater force.

"My futon is too small for two people. Get out."

"It's small if you flail around a lot," Doumeki said, covering himself properly and nestling down in his stolen spot. "Well, good night."

"Don't frickin' tell me 'good night' when you're not staying over."

"Snore," Doumeki said, like that could fool anyone into thinking he was asleep.

"Doumeki, I'm serious." Watanuki leaned over the other boy, giving him a pleading look, but Doumeki only continued to close his eyes in pretend sleep. Seeing that he was getting nowhere, Watanuki plopped down beside Doumeki and then unsympathetically kicked him in the back of the leg.

He was seriously rethinking the whole lovey-dovey vision he had for this relationship.

"Don't cling to me if you get scared tonight," Watanuki grumbled.

"Snore."

Watanuki felt like strangling Doumeki with the sheets, but if he killed Doumeki now, that would throw off his whole schedule for tomorrow. No, he would wait until after he finished baking Doumeki that apology cake. Then he would strangle him.

And with that thought in mind, Watanuki dropped off to sleep with hopes that the morning would come quickly.

* * *

It didn't come as quickly as Watanuki had hoped it would. He woke up at around two in the morning. A shifting noise had startled him awake, and Watanuki knew instinctively that it hadn't come from Doumeki's side of the bed.

In the quiet darkness of his bedroom, Watanuki could hear the archer's breathing. He hadn't realized how exhausted Doumeki would be, but the other boy had literally expended so much energy during the tournament that it was surprising he hadn't just passed out on the spot. Plus the fact that he knew Doumeki wasn't sleeping all that great these past few days and now this business with the seals… they were undoubtedly messing with his chi flow and throwing him off balance. That had to do something to a person, even if that person was Doumeki.

He had really wanted to spare Doumeki from what was going to happen tonight. But more than that, he didn't want Doumeki to see what was going to happen to him.

It was normal for a person to not want others to see him at his weakest. One of the reasons why he hadn't been able to get along with Doumeki was that the archer saw him at his weakest on a regular basis. That had made him uncomfortable around Doumeki, embarrassed even, and he lashed out. It still bothered him tremendously. He was coping better with it, but Watanuki still hated to show other people his weak side.

Watanuki took a deep breath and opened his eyes. The room was dark, but there were human shaped shadows darker than the night around them. They were all crowded around his futon. Watanuki was not surprised at how many had come tonight. It had been a while since he'd had one of these night attacks. They had learned to stay away since he'd met Doumeki, but without the archer's intimidating spirit in the way, they were out in full force and ready to make a meal out of Watanuki.

Many of the spirits in this room, he was sure, had died here at this apartment complex and had gone without burial. But a lot more had come from places far away, drawn to the smell of his blood.

Watanuki closed his eyes for a brief second, willing them away. Couldn't they just leave him alone? What was so special about him anyway? He sucked at a lot of things. Did they not know this about him? He was possibly the plainest person on the planet. They didn't need to go to all this trouble for someone so insignificant.

Watanuki felt a hand on his ankle and he closed his eyes tighter. Usually when the attack started, he would run out of his apartment and spend the night in a shrine. There was one such shrine two blocks away. He knew it was trespassing, and if he got caught he would be in a lot of trouble, but being mauled to death by ghosts was the other option, so he gladly took the chance.

Cold fingers crept up his leg and Watanuki kicked it off. He scrambled up from his covers, but didn't make it very far as another hand grabbed at his ankle. It dragged him from his bed and Watanuki dug his nails into the carpet, trying to find a purchase to pull himself away. More hands grabbed at him, dragging him towards his kitchen. Watanuki was about to yell, but a cold hand clamped over his mouth. One of the apparitions held down his arms and a black oozing substance dribbled onto his neck and shoulders. The ghost on top of him was pressing into his back, trying to possess him. They were all going to try and possess him, and Watanuki pounded his hand on the floor, panicked. More of the black inky substance oozed onto his neck and Watanuki gagged against the hand over his mouth.

"Watanuki!"

Doumeki had scrambled up from the futon, startled and disoriented. It was because Doumeki could see out of his right eye and was currently experiencing Watanuki's terror first-hand-the strong emotions Watanuki was experiencing transferred to Doumeki via the eye and blood they shared. Watanuki had really wanted to spare him this, but it was too late now and he beat his hand harder against the floor, thrashing against the things on top of him.

Watanuki watched as Doumeki ripped off a seal from his arm. The rice paper floated to the floor followed by the other seals on Doumeki's arms and the places the archer could reach. Some of the weaker ghosts started to disintegrate, dissolving into themselves in curls of black smoke. However, the strongest one remained on top of Watanuki, having quickly come ahead of the ravenous pack earlier on. Suddenly, thick black tendrils shot out of its body and wrapped around Watanuki's arms and neck, tightening around his throat and strangling him. It turned its head towards Doumeki, jaw forming out of the black mass that was its head, and screamed, razor sharp teeth glinting in the light.

"Get the hell off," Doumeki seethed, and raised his arms in the formal kata for drawing his bow, swiftly releasing the spiritual arrow in one motion. When the arrow hit its mark, the creature's shape began to distort, swirling into a black mass that absorbed most of the energy from Doumeki's arrow, but not all of it, as was apparent when the rest of the energy punched a hole through Watanuki's living room wall.

Stumbling a little from the force of the release, Doumeki bumped into a table, the hand he used to draw his bow gripping the edge of the table to steady himself, and the piece of furniture instantly collapsed on itself, wooden splinters falling from his hand.

"S-sorry," Doumeki said, staggering away from the table. "I can't control it."

Watanuki, gripping his bruised throat, slowly pushed himself up from the floor. "Are you okay?" he coughed.

"I should be asking you that question?" Doumeki said, kneeling down in front of him. He reached out, closing both hands around Watanuki's shoulders, and the touch made Watanuki's eyes go wide. The spiritual pressure Doumeki was exerting made him feel hot, more than hot, Watanuki was suddenly aroused.

"God, just when I thought tonight couldn't get any worse," Watanuki muttered, looking away from Doumeki and squirming in his hold.

Doumeki stared at him, uncharacteristically wide-eyed for a moment, before he slowly stood up and walked towards the door. "I…need to go somewhere," Doumeki said, "but I can't leave you alone."

"I'll be fine," Watanuki replied. "Those things won't come back anytime soon." Watanuki stared at the hole in the wall of his balcony. He was lucky Doumeki's energy had dissipated towards the front of his apartment and not through one of his bedroom walls towards any of his neighbors. That would have been hard to explain, not that a hole through his balcony would be any easier.

"I need to go somewhere, but I can't leave you alone," Doumeki repeated.

Watanuki gave him an odd look. "Ok," he said slowly. "I understand, but I need to clean up. I have school in the morning and I won't have time—"

"_I can't leave you alone,"_ Doumeki repeated, and stared at him so intensely that Watanuki went absolutely silent. Watanuki could not say that this kind of stubbornness on Doumeki's part was new to him. There were those rare times when Doumeki lost his cool and acted…well- pinning him against a fence was one example. However, those rare moments of intensity from Doumeki were becoming less and less rare. The more he learned about Doumeki, the more he realized just how…emotional the other boy was. Doumeki was just terribly good at hiding it. Though looking at him now, it seemed like Doumeki no longer cared about hiding these things from him. When he felt angry, he grew angry, and when he felt over-protective, well here it was staring Watanuki right in the face.

"Where are we going?" Watanuki asked, as he thought that placating Doumeki was in the best interests of all. There were times when Doumeki was not the most mature individual. This had the potential for turning into one of those times. And Watanuki would rather not be dragged out of his apartment, kicking and screaming, and waking the whole neighborhood because Doumeki could not take 'no' for an answer. It would most likely reflect badly on him, as he would be the one making all the noise. One of them had to be the mature adult in this situation, and looking at Doumeki as he quietly stared him down, it wasn't going to be him.

* * *

Watanuki had had a feeling that this was where Doumeki was taking him. Every time something happened Doumeki usually came here. Watanuki could tell that this place was Doumeki's sanctuary. He must have spent much of his childhood back here. So why in the world he would want to destroy this place had Watanuki scratching his head.

"I can't believe you can still keep going," Watanuki said as he watched Doumeki draw his archery bow and let an arrow fly. It disappeared in the endless cedar forest that Doumeki had been targeting for the past two hours, and off in the distance, Watanuki saw a tiny speck of light, like a firefly, flare into existence within the darkness of the immense cedar forest. It was Doumeki's arrow exploding on itself, and Watanuki could only be amazed by the distance the arrow had covered in such a short time.

They were currently in Haruka's hidden garden in the back of Doumeki's family shrine. Watanuki was seated on one of the rocks next to the pond he had fallen into a while back. They had come here so Doumeki could widdle down his spiritual energy. It appeared like the archer had too much of it and was having a hard time controlling the excess. Watanuki had remembered that Yuuko-san had said that, in essence, their proximity was feeding off each other. Watanuki's proximity to Doumeki was making his spiritual energy grow and Doumeki's proximity to him was doing the reverse—it was weakening his own energy and making it harder for the ghosts to find him. Doumeki was obviously getting the short end of the stick in this situation. At the beginning of their acquaintance their energies had had a balance, but after all the things they had been through, that balance was falling apart. Doumeki's steadily growing need to protect him was making his spiritual energy that much stronger, but also that much more unstable. Watanuki watched Doumeki fire-off another five or six arrows before he sighed deeply.

"We need to go to Yuuko-san," Watanuki said, standing up. "I know that's not what you want to hear right now, but we have no choice."

"I'll fix it," Doumeki said, still staring ahead, his bow drawn and ready to release.

"You call this fixing it," Watanuki said. "What if your parents come back here and find half their land destroyed."

"It extends for much farther than this," Doumeki said, like that made it okay. Then he added in the same irreverent tone, "it was passed down to me by my grandfather, so technically it's my land."

"God, I don't care," Watanuki said, annoyed now. "You can't even touch something without destroying it. There's something really wrong with you."

"And going to Yuuko-san would only make it worse," Doumeki said tersely. He frowned, and instead of shooting the arrow, he suddenly dropped his arms, slung his bow on his back, and walked past Watanuki. "We already went to her for help. You're doing exactly what every one of her customers do—returning to her after you've broken a contract."

Watanuki ran after Doumeki. "We didn't break anything."

"Maybe you didn't, but I did," Doumeki said, keeping his strides long and swift, and making it hard for Watanuki to keep up. "I tore off those seals after she told me not to, and I did it knowingly."

"That couldn't be helped," Watanuki said.

"It can always be helped," Doumeki replied, and suddenly came to a halt. Watanuki walked right into his back, stumbling a little, before Doumeki grabbed him by the arms and steadied him. Doumeki looked down at him, the frown on his face receding, before the archer slipped his arms around Watanuki's shoulders and pulled him into a hug. Watanuki had not been expecting it, but he welcomed it nonetheless, letting Doumeki's full weight sink completely into his chest and the archer's face rest in the crook of his neck. Doumeki's spiritual energy was making him feel all kinds of restless, but Watanuki could not be bothered when this embrace was the most perfect thing he had ever felt in his life.

All the fight in Watanuki melted away under the sweetness of Doumeki's arms.

"That's not fair," Watanuki said, his voice muffled by Doumeki's shoulder.

"I'll fix it," Doumeki muttered, his voice muffled by Watanuki's neck. "I can't go back to Yuuko-san, but I won't stop you if you want to go to her."

"I'll stay," Watanuki said, letting Doumeki hug him tighter. "I was just worried…"

Doumeki drew back and held his gaze for a moment before he took him by the hand once again and led him back the way they came. Watanuki had followed Doumeki out of his apartment in the thin material of his pajamas, so he was grateful for the warmth of the house as he entered Doumeki's bedroom through the outside screen doors.

"You can go back to sleep if you want," Doumeki said as he set his shoes and Watanuki's slippers on the wooden terrace outside his room. "We still have two hours until we have to wake up for school."

"I guess," Watanuki said, as he laid down on Doumeki's futon. He watched Doumeki walk towards his bedroom door and pushed himself up from the mattress. "Aren't you going to try and get some sleep too?"

Doumeki's hand paused on the screen door. "I need to use the bathroom," he said tersely.

Watanuki took in Doumeki's appearance, from his terrible bed-head to his tired slump, and he stood up, not feeling it right to sleep with Doumeki looking so miserable. "Are you okay? I can make you something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," Doumeki said, and Watanuki's eyes widened despite themselves.

"Now I know you're dying," Watanuki said, and put a hand on Doumeki's forehead. Doumeki felt warm, and he was sweating, but that was from his prior exertions out in the garden. Watanuki slipped his hand around to Doumeki's neck and he felt the archer shudder; one of Doumeki's fists tightened into the pants leg of his own uniform. Watanuki gave him a strange look. "What?"

"You're not helping," Doumeki said, and removed Watanuki's hand from his neck. "Go to sleep." Doumeki slid the door open brusquely, but Watanuki followed him out, concerned.

"Do you want me to draw a bath for you?" Watanuki asked. He could tell how tired Doumeki was, so he would not snap at him for his terseness, though he would sure as hell correct him on his tone later when the archer felt better.

"You're following me in?" Doumeki asked, as he stopped at the bathroom's entrance.

"Just to draw you a bath," Watanuki said, not seeing the big deal.

Doumeki looked at him for a good minute. "I'm not taking a bath."

It took a while for Watanuki to comprehend what Doumeki was planning to do. It shouldn't have, considering Watanuki had felt it pressed against his leg when they had embraced earlier; but for a second, Watanuki had forgotten who he was dealing with and how normal human responses did not come naturally to the archer.

"You don't have an ounce of shame in that big body of yours, do you?"

Doumeki ignored him, moving to open the bathroom door, but Watanuki stopped it from sliding open with his hand, using his arm to block the entrance.

"Not to spoil your fun," Watanuki said with a strained smile, "but is this really the best time to do this, especially when your body's being so unpredictable?"

Doumeki shrugged. "I've done it recently and nothing happened. It's also the fastest way to get rid of a lot of spiritual energy in a short amount of time."

Watanuki blinked at Doumeki, caught off guard. "What? When? When did you find this out?"

"Right after the tournament," Doumeki said indiffernently. "I was still hard from when we were in the storage room earlier and it wasn't going away…so I figured why not."

"What happened to the sacred art of kyoudo?" Watanuki said, his face a mixture between horror and flattery, which was a really confusing expression to wear on one's face for any period of time, he had to admit. "Haruka-san told me that kyoudo's not about shooting a bull's-eye, but about attaining the calm mental and physical state to do so."

"Grandfather never had you sprawled out in his lap before a tournament," Doumeki said simply.

Shocked that Doumeki would even say something like that, Watanuki let his arm slip from the doorway, and Doumeki used that opportunity to brush past him and enter the bathroom.

Seeing that Doumeki was very determined to do this, Watanuki took a step back from the door. If the archer was confident that nothing would happen, Watanuki would not bother him unnecessarily. Doumeki was stressed as it was and any release of any kind would do him some good. Watanuki had never given the idea much thought, but Doumeki was a young, healthy male-and young, healthy males as themselves were prone to do certain things.

Watanuki only did it once in a while -and perfunctorily at that- when he woke up aroused and did not need to be distracted from the many things he had to do that day. Watanuki liked the feeling it gave him and he recognized that it was a normal thing to do, but that also did not stop him from feeling a little ashamed over it. Watanuki did not do it all that much anyway, but as of late, he was waking up every morning feeling restless and aroused.

The old Watanuki had believed that true love and romance were separated from such impure acts—that they even corrupted them. Watanuki had felt that his love for Himawari had been pure. He was perfectly content to look at her and admire her from far away, but to touch her was completely out of the question. It was almost an insult to her.

However, his romance with Doumeki was unwinding quite differently. Once he had accepted Doumeki's feelings, it was not hard to let himself explore the relationship further. He was attracted to Doumeki, and not only because the archer was caring and intelligent, but physically as well. It had come as quite a shock. His physical attraction to Doumeki was, to say the least, intense. He wanted nothing more than to throw himself at the other boy and never let it go; and the fact that he was feeling so clingy towards his mortal nemesis made Watanuki want to gag.

Uh…if he had known how things were going to turn out between them he wouldn't have put all that time and energy into fighting his attraction for Doumeki. He could have knitted a thousand mittens, or baked a thousand cup-cakes. A lot of things could have been accomplished.

"You don't want me to do it?" Doumeki said, cutting Watanuki's thoughts short.

Watanuki met his eyes, and then feeling awkward all of a sudden—the subject matter didn't help—he lowered them. "No…I'll give you your privacy."

Watanuki turned to go, but then stopped. He was getting a thought. A really inappropriate one. He shouldn't even be considering it. They had only started to go out, and Watanuki did not want to rush things, but that treacherous thought would not leave him alone. Watanuki had always been the type of person to take responsibility for his actions, and even though he had functioned as the indirect cause of Doumeki's current…problem, he was not one to shirk his responsibilities. It was insane how his logic worked sometimes. Honestly, he hated himself for it. It made his life a lot more complicated than it should be, but Watanuki had never been the type of person to take the easy path in life. He did not want to…do things to Doumeki and then not take responsibility for it. And Doumeki was his responsibility now, no matter how much he might deny it in his head.

"Um…" Watanuki cleared his throat, steeling himself. "Do you want…do you need some help?"

There were a few times when Watanuki saw Doumeki grow speechless, but the few times that he had seen Doumeki clam up, Watanuki could not help but take some sort of sadistic pride in watching the archer squirm in his presence. Even though he honestly did want to help Doumeki, there was still a very big part of Watanuki that wanted to torment the archer every chance he got. He really should get his head checked out, but then sanity would get in the way of him thinking up interesting ways to punish his life-long enemy.

Doumeki rubbed the back of his head, his mouth slightly opened. "Ah…" He looked down at his feet- seemed to forget what he was staring at so intently, and then slowly fixed Watanuki with a wary stare. His ears were beet red.

"We haven't… talked about this yet," Doumeki said haltingly, hunching in on himself.

It was true. The topic had never come up. They had only kissed two times, but then again, to say they had only kissed was misleading. It was more accurate to say they had made-out. Their first kiss had been tentative and gentle—or had started up that way. It hadn't taken it long to turn into something else entirely.

Their second kiss had been even more ardent, feuled by their frustrations over not being able to exactly pinpoint why they were so physically attracted to each other and what they were going to do about it.

If Watanuki were honest with himself, he'd known it was only a matter of time before… something happened between them. With the way Doumeki had been looking at him for the past few weeks, Watanuki was surprised something hadn't happened sooner.

They were obviously both hungry for it. Watanuki had not wanted to jump into anything because it was always best to take things slow, especially when they were still both in high school and did not have any experience with these things.

The more Watanuki thought about it, the more he realized they weren't ready. Their inexperience coupled with the overall uncertainty of the situation with the seals made this not the best time. That's what Watanuki wanted to say, but the utter seriousness of Doumeki's current expression and, again, the way the archer was looking at him—those dark, tawny eyes completely focused on him—made Watanuki forget every reason why this should not be.

Suddenly, Doumeki grabbed his wrists and pulled him into the bathroom. The door slid shut behind Watanuki and he found himself pressed up against an adjacent wall, Doumeki standing over him and Watanuki's arms trapped between their bodies.

"You don't have to…if you don't want to," Doumeki said, but even though the archer was giving him the chance to back out, Doumeki was still steadily pressing him harder into the wall. Watanuki was having a hard time breathing, not only because of the weight on his stomach, but because in his own strangely restrained manner, Doumeki looked extremely ready and willing for the next step in their relationship.

Watanuki stared up at Doumeki, wide-eyed.

Oh boy…

"It's okay," Watanuki said, his chest rising and falling heavily. "I…I…think this is okay."

"It might not be okay," Doumeki muttered uncertainly. The archer had taken ahold of his wrists and was slowly pinning it to his sides. "You smell like cake batter and I might end up being a little rough with you."

Watanuki went as still as a statue.

"What the hell do those two things have to do with each other? And why the hell are you holding down my arms. I-I need my hands for this," Watanuki said, a little panic creeping into his voice.

Doumeki was making him nervous. Watanuki was confident of his ability to get out of any hold—the constant ghost ambushes of his youth had given him more than enough practice—but as of the moment he was not sure if he could pull away from Doumeki.

Doumeki and he were not all that much different in weight or height, but for some reason Doumeki was a lot stronger than him. The first time they had gone on a mission together, Doumeki had practically pulled him up from the ledge of that school building one-handed while withstanding attacks from angel-san.

All that archery training had obviously done something for him, but just because Doumeki might be a tad stronger than Watanuki, did not mean that Watanuki was going to allow Doumeki to take control of the situation.

"If you use your hands, I'll definitely not be able to control myself," Doumeki said in a warning tone.

Okay, well, now he did not have to feel so helpless over this situation since Doumeki was in a state that made him also completely helpless as well. However, Doumeki's lack of control might not be a good thing.

"Okay," Watanuki said, repeating his mantra for tonight. "I-if you don't want me to...do that for you, then how are we supposed to do this?"

In response, Doumeki moved one of his hands to Watanuki's waist. He held him in place there, pressing him even harder into the wall. His other hand grabbed the base of Watanuki's thigh and lifted it, also pinning the appendage to the wall. Before Watanuki could gather his protests—because what the hell, this was worse than using his hands—Doumeki pressed himself against the inside of Watanuki's clothed leg, moving against it.

Watanuki pushed both his hands against Doumeki's chest. "Wait a minute, you son of a—" but before he could even let lose an explicative, Doumeki had hooked his arm around his waist and kissed him hard.

"Mmph!" Watanuki hit Doumeki hard in the chest with one of his fists, which did not slow Doumeki any. While he was not at all adverse to giving Doumeki some release, Watanuki did not wish the same for himself. However, with the way Doumeki was rubbing against him, while also so close to that part of his anatomy, the archer was not giving him much of a choice.

Doumeki groaned in his ear, a sound that was one part foreign and two parts overwhelming. Watanuki felt his heart beat faster and his lower body tense. He clutched at Doumeki's upper arms, digging his fingers into muscle and bone, as Doumeki continued to tirelessly thrust against his inner leg.

Doumeki appeared close, his jaw going taut and the area around his shut eyes tensing. He slammed one of his hands against the wall beside Watanuki's head, bracing himself, and Watanuki's eyes widened as that same hand burned a hole through the wall.

There was a good chance that Doumeki was going to accidentally kill him, but despite the very real danger that Doumeki possessed to him, Watanuki could not bring himself to stop or even slow these proceedings. The expression on Doumeki's face the moment he came was well worth the trouble Watanuki had encountered some hours ago at his apartment and furthermore any problems he might encounter in the future.

Doumeki was taking in steady, deep breaths. He swallowed and Watanuki saw his adam's apple move in his throat. A thin sheen of sweat covered his forehead. His eyes looked unfocused and hazy, and his head was bent low so that Doumeki and he were practically sharing the same breath.

It was somewhat of a surprise to see Doumeki looking so affected. It shouldn't have been. Doumeki was human after-all, but seeing it was different than thinking about it.

Watanuki took a long shuddering breath as eyes the color of melted honey slowly met his own. He was still very aroused, although when he had seen Doumeki's hand go through the wall his excitement had been a bit tempered by fear and worry.

"Are you…okay?" Watanuki said, the words coming out hoarser than they should have, his throat feeling thick and dry.

"I think I got a little too excited," Doumeki said, looking at the hand through the wall, but even though Doumeki was speaking about excitement, his tone was as bland as ever. He seemed to have returned to normal. Doumeki pulled his hand out of the wall and bits of concrete and wood fell onto the floor. His palm was bruised and cut in several places.

"Is it broken?" Watanuki asked, grabbing the appendage, even though that was the last thing he should do if it was indeed broken. "Does it hurt? Tell me if it hurts!" Watanuki insisted. "I have bandages and gauze at home. Why didn't I bring it? I should have brought it with me." Watanuki inspected Doumeki's palm, touching one of the cuts gently with his fingertips. "We should disinfect it."

"It doesn't hurt," Doumeki said, letting Watanuki continue to touch his hand. "I didn't even know my hand went through the wall until I saw it."

"That's because your head is as hard as rock. It's no wonder your hide is the same," Watanuki said, letting Doumeki's hand drop and glaring at him. "That was dangerous. You could have broken your hand."

"It would have been worth it," Doumeki said, standing up straight and looking down at him.

Watanuki brushed the messy strands out of his face. "Well, whatever," he said, embarrassed. He pushed himself away from the wall. He made to move, but Doumeki was still standing in the way. "What?" he asked, his face still flushed.

"We're not done," Doumeki said, his brows slightly furrowed together, puzzled. It was not the norm as far as expressions went for Doumeki, but today Watanuki had seen more expressions from the archer than he had in the two years they had known each other.

"You burned a hole through a solid concrete wall. We're done," Watanuki said, feeling that logic would stop Doumeki cold in his tracks. He appreciated the fact that Doumeki wanted to take care of him too, but there would be a better time and place for that. Right now he felt nothing but bone-deep exhaustation. The events of the last few hours were wearing on him and he could not ignore sleep anymore.

"Okay," Doumeki said, rather docile about it. He stepped to the side so Watanuki could pass, which the boy appreciated because he could not sum up the energy to even push the archer out of the way.

Doumeki followed him silently back to the bedroom. In the futon Watanuki curled up on his side. He didn't have to look to know that he had bruises on his back from when Doumeki had been slamming him against the wall a little while ago.

Watanuki felt movement at his back as Doumeki settled beside him. The archer was still on his side of the futon for a while, as if he were thinking something over, before he sat up. He put one of his hands on the other side of Watanuki and looked down at him to gauge his response.

"Are you mad?"

"I'm always mad, especially when it comes to you."

There was a hint of a smirk on Doumeki's face, as if Watanuki's usual crankiness had put his mind at ease.

"Next time use a frickin bed instead of the wall," Watanuki grumbled, falling off to sleep, thoughts of how he was going to get revenge on Doumeki running through his head.


End file.
